The White Rose
by silverwolf1213
Summary: What would happen if Kiba Inuzuka was dropped into the real world, where the world of Naruto is only a manga?  How does he deal with that?  How does the girl who finds him handle him dropping into her life?
1. Supermassive Black Hole

**Hello, my readers! This story is kind of the reverse of what we're all used to. Normally, it's always the clumsy damsel in distress who is sent to the Narutoverse. Either that, or some random girl who suddenly acquires amazing ninja abilities. Neither of these ideas make sense either, as the protagonist usually falls through a random portal. **

**I'm hoping that this story acts as a nice refresher, for you readers and myself especially. I hope you enjoy! I do not own Naruto.**

**Supermassive Black Hole by Muse**

* * *

"Spread out," Kiba ordered.

His two teammates nodded at his command, and in the blink of an eye, Shino and Hinata had leaped away. The dog ninja and his faithful canine companion continued forward. Sending chakra to his nose to enhance his sense of smell, Kiba tried to locate the target.

Nothing.

The brown-haired seventeen-year-old growled. The man his team was after was very quick when it came to escaping. The teens had found the target twice already, and both times, the rogue ninja had used his space continuum jutsu to disappear. This wild goose chase was getting rather annoying now.

If Kurenai had been with them, they probably would have been able to take down the missing-nin by now. But seeing as she was taking care of the late Asuma's child, there was no way she could join them for this mission. Now Kiba was placed as team leader until Tsunade could find a suitable jounin to lead Team Kurenai.

"Kiba," Shino's voice echoed in the Inuzuka's ear, interrupting his thoughts.

Kiba placed his hand on the earpiece to respond. "What's up, Shino?" he said into the radio.

"My bugs have caught onto his location. He's headed toward the Lion's Fangs," Shino informed.

"Got it. You hear that, Hinata?" Kiba asked.

"Yes," the Hyuuga heiress replied.

"Let's head out and meet at a mile's radius from the mountain range," Kiba said.

"Right," the two other team members answered. Kiba turned the radio off and kicked into high gear to the mountain range that was named the Lion's Fangs. Akamaru stayed close on his master's heels.

* * *

The team huddled together in the cover of the trees. The full moon was shining brightly through the pitch black sky, illuminating the entire forest. The shinobi crouched to the ground as they finally neared the mountain range.

"Kiba, it is not a good idea to confront this man at night," Shino warned. "Waiting until morning so that we have daylight to see what is going on is the wiser choice."

"I know," the squad leader said. "But it took forever to find him. We'll lose him if we let this chance get away from us."

"Why don't we use Shino's Kikaichu bugs to stay with him? That way, we'll be able to track him even if he teleports away," Hinata suggested.

"I tried it already," Shino admitted. "When he uses his space continuum techniques, it kills the bugs. They can't handle the force that comes with teleportation and space manipulation."

"Right, so our best option is to keep him immobilized now so we can take him down," Kiba said. He turned to look at the only female member of the team. "Hinata, you think you can take care of that?"

"Y-Yes," Hinata stuttered, a little nervous at her task.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Kiba smiled in encouragement. "You can handle this."

The indigo-haired girl returned the smile. "Right."

"His teleportation technique takes five seconds to work before he completely vanishes," Shino said. "He needs to be immobilized before the interval is completed."

"Okay," Hinata nodded.

"Shino, once Hinata's got the guy in combat, use your bugs to surround him and enclose on him," Kiba said.

The bug user nodded his head. "What will you do?"

"I'm going to finish him off," Kiba growled lowly. "Let's do this thing."

* * *

Kontorouru Poutaru was very pleased with himself. Not only had he stolen a lot of money, he had also nabbed some fine jewelry from a small village in the Fire Country. Konoha Village had deployed a team to track him down, but he was too good for them. With his amazing abilities to bend space and matter, he was able to easily avoid the shinobi team.

Oh yes, Kontorouru was very proud of his techniques. And he was glad to be a rogue ninja. The Hidden Grass Village, his old home, had not appreciated his jutsu well enough, so he had left.

And life was good. With his techniques, he was easily able to steal money without anyone noticing him at all. And by selling the riches he stole, he had money coming out of the wazoo.

Kontorouru smirked to himself as he held up a diamond necklace that he had stolen from an elderly lady. _"I can't wait to sell these diamonds."_

A sudden rustling noise in the nearby bushes of the forest disrupted the thief's thoughts. The man quickly turned in the direction of the noise, a fierce snarl plastered on his face.

"Nobody sneaks up on me!" he yelled as he brought his hands together in a seal. "Psychic Style: Shadow Ball Blast!"

After forming the correct hand signs, the man placed his left hand to hover over the palm of his right. A dark sphere formed from thin air, and Kontorouru launched the mass of dark energy at the bushes. The brush was instantly vaporized, along with some nearby trees, and a small crater was formed in the ground.

Kontorouru glanced around suspiciously. Someone somewhere was trying to strike. Most likely, it was the Konoha tracking team.

_"Which means it's time for me to leave,"_Kontorouru thought to himself quickly. He rapidly brought his hands in a seal.

But before his technique could reach the full five seconds, he felt someone coming towards him. Not seeing anyone in front or coming from the side, he looked up. A dark-haired girl was dropping towards him, her hands raised up to strike him.

Kontorouru quickly dodged, his technique failing as his hands fell from the seal. He continued to maneuver away from Hinata's Gentle Fist strikes, but the girl refused to relent. The rogue ninja brought his hands together into quick seals, ready to use his own attack.

"Psychic Style: Midnight Slash!" Kontorouru yelled. Instantly, chakra-enhanced missiles appeared from the air as they launched themselves at Hinata.

However, a mass of Kikaichu bugs appeared in front of Hinata, absorbed the chakra, and rendered the thief's attacks useless. Kontorouru turned to see Shino standing a distance away, controlling the parasites. The missing-nin was about to use his techniques to get rid of the bugs, but his diverted attention left him wide open.

Hinata charged forward, her Gentle Fist ready, and she struck the opponent's left arm. Kontorouru's arm hung limply at his side. The thief growled at the two shinobi.

Suddenly, two spinning cyclones appeared from the forest trees, and they headed straight towards the enemy. The injured man rapidly jumped away, successfully dodging the Fang Over Fang attack.

Kiba and Akamaru joined their team members, getting into squad formation. Hinata stood on Kiba's right while Shino was on his left. The large dog was crouching in front of his owner, snarling fiercely.

"Shino, you got this?" Kiba whispered so the enemy couldn't hear him.

"Yes," Shino's deep voice whispered back.

The hooded ninja raised his arms, and his bugs followed the direction of his outstretched arms. The mass of parasites flew straight towards the enemy, nearly surrounding him. Refusing to back down, Kontorouru used his right arm to attack. He successfully conjured a space continuum technique that bent the atmosphere, thereby sending a majority of the bugs into another dimension.

Shino faltered at the loss of his bugs, but Hinata charged in while Kontorouru recuperated from the use of his technique. Moving quickly, the kunoichi successfully struck the enemy's other arm, rendering hand signs impossible.

"You stupid ninja!" the man cursed at the shinobi team.

"My turn!" Kiba bellowed as he ran forward with Akamaru on his heels.

With each step he took, Kiba became fiercer looking. His eyes became wilder, and his hands turned into claws. Akamaru bared his teeth and claws, and the pair leaped up to strike Kontorouru.

_"I will not lose! Not yet!"_Kontorouru hissed in his mind.

Quickly going through the correct chants in his mind, he summoned enough chakra into his lungs to complete his master technique. This jutsu needed no hand signs, only a few quick chants that could be said inwardly. This technique was his trump card.

"Psychic Style: Black Hole Jutsu!" he yelled. He sucked in as much air as his lungs would allow, and then his body mixed his chakra with the inhaled air. Kontorouru quickly blew the air from his mouth, and a giant rift in the atmosphere appeared. A black hole formed in front of the user, almost acting as a shield.

Kiba faltered, trying to get away from the black hole as it began to suck in anything and everything that was nearby. He and Akamaru quickly jumped to the ground, clawing at the dirt to stay in place. But the rift in the space was very strong as it continued to suck in the air, pulling the ninja with it.

Shino and Hinata were on the forest's edge, grasping the trees to stay in place. The bug user tried sending his Kikaichu parasites to save Kiba and Akamaru, who were slowing being dragged closer and closer to the black hole. But the bugs could not get close enough to the ninja and his dog without being sucked into the rift.

_"Crap!"_Kiba yelled inwardly as he felt his body inching ever so slowly towards the black hole.

The brown-haired ninja tried pulling himself forward across the ground, away from the atmospheric maelstrom. The large ninja hound followed suit, using his paws to get away from the opponent and his jutsu. The pair inched forward, but the dark whirlpool only seemed to be getting stronger.

Sending chakra into his hands, Kiba held onto the ground for dear life. Kontorouru began to laugh maniacally as the black hole started to suck in all different forms of nature. Bushes were being uprooted from the ground, and branches were flying over Kiba's head as the maelstrom ate everything in sight.

Dirt and debris were flying into the dog ninja's eyes as everything was absorbed into the whirlpool. Kiba blinked the dust away… just in time to see a well-sized rock headed straight for him.

_"You have got to be kidding me…"_Kiba stared at the boulder in shock.

His whole mind went numb as the rock hit him right on the top of his head. A sharp shooting pain coursed through his head, and then he felt nothing. Losing touch with his consciousness, his hands slowly slipped from the ground, and his body was easily absorbed into the black hole. Akamaru barked urgently as he watched his master disappear into the dark abyss. Being the ever so faithful canine that he is, the white dog leaped from the ground, letting the wind carry him into the maelstrom after his owner.

"Kiba! Akamaru!" Hinata shrieked in panic. But it was no use.

They were gone.

The rift in the atmosphere slowly disintegrated into nothing, and Kontorouru collapsed to his knees in exhaustion. His best technique… his strongest jutsu… his trump card… it succeeded. Sure, the rest of the Konoha team was still present. But to send someone to another dimension… it felt so…

So good.

A sudden pain shot through his cranium from behind. The thief fell forward to the ground, unable to move any part of his body now. Black spots appeared in his vision, and he could barely make out the outlines of two people standing over him.

One figure reached down and pulled him up so that Kontorouru was face to face with his new captor. "Where did you send him? Where is my comrade?" Shino snarled in his deep voice. Normally, he wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him. But he had just watched one of his closest friends disappear off the face of the earth. He would consider this an exception.

Pfft, this hooded sunglasses-wearing ninja wanted to know where his missing teammate was. Kontorouru snickered inwardly; he would have laughed in the other guy's face, but he could barely breathe, his muscles hurt so much.

Kontorouru's Black Hole Jutsu always succeeded. No matter if it was one man or a hundred; when you were in range of the dark whirlpool, you were done for. And his technique was unpredictable. It absorbed anything and everything, and the black hole could send those things into either another place on the continent, or a completely different dimension. Where those things ended up, Kontorouru could care less.

The rogue ninja stared up at Shino. He couldn't see Shino's vicious glare, since his face was covered by his sunglasses and jacket. But Kontorouru did not care. He had found his satisfaction in getting rid of the Leaf ninja and his stupid dog.

Kontorouru forced his mouth to move to answer Shino's question, his muscles aching at the strenuous work. "I don't know," he forced his voice to say. The full moon shedded its light on the scene, illuminating his face in the dark shadows. He grinned evilly up at the remaining team members.


	2. Haunted

**The main female protagonist, Adrianna, is based off of me. Some, but not all, of the family/social/life events that occur in this story actually happened.**

**Haunted by Taylor Swift**

* * *

"Adrianna, catch!" a girl with short brown hair yelled.

The girl named Adrianna turned at the sound of her best friend's voice just in time to see a roll of tape hurling towards her face. "Eek!" Adrianna squealed as she threw her hands up to cover her face. Luckily, the tape landed in her hands.

"Nice catch!" the girl who had thrown the tape said as she slowly descended the ladder she was on.

"Yeesh, you could give me a little warning next time, Nikki Roth," Adrianna glared as she readjusted her glasses.

"I did, Anna Sun. I said to catch," the girl named Nicole said.

"Yeah, but you know I barely have any hand-eye coordination. I need a better warning than 'Catch!' next time," Adrianna said, wiping strands of her raven-colored hair out of her eyes.

"Okay, okay. Next time, I'll give you a ten minute warning prior to throwing something at you," the brown-haired girl said.

"That's all I ask," Adrianna smiled. She placed the roll of tape back into a large cardboard box, and then she straightened up to look at the progress of decorations. "Hey, you know, everything looks great."

"That's because I am just so artistically talented," Nicole grinned, her light blue eyes gleaming mischievously at her best friend.

"Right," Adrianna replied sarcastically. "And the fact that there are twenty other kids helping out has nothing to do with it."

"Of course not," Nicole said as she watched the other students finish putting up decorations for the school's Jazz Festival. "Thanks for your help, by the way."

"No problem," Adrianna shrugged as she fixed her hair as more strands began to fall from her messy bun.

The Richardson High's annual Jazz Festival was scheduled to take place in only two days, so the school jazz band was decorating the auditorium for the performance. The theme was Winter Wonderland; it was to put everyone in the holiday spirits.

As a junior, Nicole was in her third year of jazz band. Adrianna didn't play an instrument, but she always volunteered to help out the band whenever she could to support her best friend.

"Well, I think that's enough work for tonight," Nicole said as she stretched her arms above her head.

"Yup," Adrianna nodded. "Do you need a ride?"

"Nah, my mom's coming at eight. And it is…" Nikki pulled out her cell phone to check the time. "7:57…" Her eyes glanced nervously up to stare at her friend. "Run?"

"Like there's no tomorrow," the raven-haired girl answered.

"See ya, Anna!" the now frantic girl hugged her friend before grabbing her bag, jumping off the stage, and running out of the auditorium.

"Bye, Nikki!" the other girl called after her best friend.

"I'm coming, Mommy!" the brown-haired girl yelled at the top of her lungs, praying that she would make it on time to her mother's car and not have to face the wrath of her impatient mom.

Adrianna laughed at her friend's expense. One thing she and Nikki had in common were strict parents. But Nikki was more of the laid back type. When her parents wanted something, she did her best to obey them. But when they got upset with her, she would always just shrug. It never bothered her when they were angry; she just made sure to stay away from them.

Adrianna, on the other hand, tried to do everything she could to keep her parents from getting angry. It was not a pretty sight when the Sun family was fighting. On really bad occasions, Adrianna had started crying in the middle of the fight, and her father would just continue yelling in her face.

The girl suddenly shook her head to get rid of these thoughts. She really didn't want to think of the bad times with her family. As far as she knew, they were happy… for now, at least. Eventually, her father would find something to nag her about. And then there would be another fight.

Adrianna sighed as she grabbed her purse. The decorations were pretty much done, and many of the other students were getting ready to leave. She descended the stairs of the stage and walked passed her fellow classmates. She waved to each of them, giving smiles here and there.

Just as she neared the doors that led into the hallway, she heard an unfamiliar voice calling her name. She turned to see a senior running up to her. After closer inspection, she recognized that he was in the jazz band, along with Nicole. His name was Jon Clayton.

She waited for the older boy to come over to her. The boy breathed in deeply as he caught his breath from running after her. "I need to give you something."

Give her something? She had never talked to this kid in her life. What could he possibly have to give her? "Um… what is it?" she asked cautiously.

He dug into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He held it up for her to take, and she gently took it into her hands. She slowly opened it and read what was on it.

It was an email address. But not just any email. The person it belonged to had his name in the address, and she had sworn to herself that she would never ever think about that guy again.

Her eyes looked up to see Jon staring at her intently. "Where… where did you get this?" Adrianna said, finding it suddenly hard to breathe.

"He works at my parents' restaurant. He wants to get in contact with you," Jon said.

"Why go through such great lengths all of a sudden now, huh?" Adrianna said, her voice rising a bit. "He knows where I live. Why doesn't he want to see me in person? Is he too much of a coward to see me after nearly ten years?"

"He wants to talk-" Joe started to say, but the girl cut him off.

"I appreciate that you're trying to help him out," Adrianna said, letting her voice lower a bit. "But just stop. He's not worth it."

"Adrianna… he's your brother," Jon whispered.

"Technically, he's my half-brother. And I don't consider him that anymore either," Adrianna countered. "As far as I'm concerned, he chose not to be the older brother, like he was supposed to be. So tell him to forget it."

Before Jon could say anything more, the distraught girl had turned on her heel and stormed away. She marched herself down to her locker, grabbed her backpack of books, and headed off towards the student parking lot.

As she neared the school exit, she realized that she was still clutching the piece of paper in her hands. She quickly tore it up and tossed the pieces into the nearest garbage can.

_"Jeffrey Sun… you stupid coward… just go back to doing your drugs and leave me alone…" _Adrianna thought angrily as she glared at the trash can before turning away.

Normally, this would be the type of situation where the seventeen-year-old would allow the tears to spill. Times of emotional distress tended to override Adrianna's senses a lot of times. However, she gave up crying for her half-sibling a long time ago.

If only she had been smarter as a seven-year-old. If only she knew the things she knew now. If only her father had told her then to never trust him. Jeffrey was his son, after all. Why hadn't he bothered to tell her that his son was a stupid dropout who got hooked on drugs at her current age and was still living with his mom at the age of twenty-six?

Why hadn't Daddy told her then?

_"Because Daddy was ashamed of what his son had become…"_ a little voice echoed in Adrianna's head. _"And you were too young to understand these things anyway…"_

The girl sighed as she shook her head to get rid of these thoughts. She had enough things going on in her life. The last thing she needed was more stress, especially from a jerk like… him.

She turned to leave the school. She walked outside to be met with cold air and a nippy breeze. Yup, November was in full swing, and December was only a week away. Adrianna clutched her coat tighter to her body to keep warm. She walked down the path towards the parking lot. Farther down lot, she could see her red Subaru parked down yonder. It looked so lonely.

Adrianna smiled at that thought. She should have moved her car closer to the building after school, when everyone had left. Then she wouldn't be forced to walk alone down to the end of the parking lot in twenty degree weather.

"Stupid New Jersey…" the girl mumbled as a strong wind blew against her.

Jeez, she couldn't wait to get home. She would have a light dinner. And then she would have a steaming cup of hot chocolate as she lounged around in her room. She couldn't wait to relax for the rest of this Friday night. And maybe, just maybe, her new Naruto manga volume would have arrived in the mail today.

Adrianna laughed at herself. She thought that everyday. Getting the new Naruto volume was always a highlight. She had a strange addiction to the manga. It was just so… good. She became an avid fan of the anime when she was in fifth grade. Then she started reading the manga when she was in sixth grade. She's been collecting the volumes ever since.

Unfortunately, her mother saw her watching a Naruto episode online once. She had gotten a long scolding on how her laptop is used for homework, not 'stupid shows and cartoons'. But Adrianna was so addicted to the series. So she ordered the volumes in the mail straight from Japan and then watched the shows late at night. And whenever she was able to, she read Naruto fanfictions on the computer.

Sometimes, she tried to talk to Nikki about Naruto. However, her best friend wasn't all that into it. Sure, she knew what went on in the anime and manga, but that was only because Adrianna would always talk about it when something intense or interesting happened in the real plot line or a cute fanfiction she had read. Nicole honestly thought her friend's interest in the Japanese series was weird, and she frequently told her so.

Yeah, she had an unhealthy obsession. But it was so worth it. And if Nicole could fantasize of marrying Edward Cullen when she was older, then Adrianna could have her addiction to Naruto.

After what seemed like years of walking, the girl had finally arrived at her car, which was parked near the wooded area of the school grounds. The woods gave her the creeps sometimes, especially at night. It just reminded her of a classic movie moment, where some weird creature would pop out and eat her.

Yes, she had weird thoughts like that.

The raven-haired girl threw her backpack onto the passenger seat and then ran over to the driver's side. Before hopping into the car, Adrianna glanced up at the dark sky. The full moon was illuminating the earth perfectly. The girl felt sense of calm come over her as she stared at its beauty.

Adrianna quickly pulled out a notebook and pen from her purse, and she began to write down quick, random phrases.

_On this dark November night…  
Where the cold air nips at my nose…  
You shed such a beautiful light…  
Your beauty is that of a white rose._

After reading her words a couple times, Adrianna shrugged. It wasn't one of her best, but it wasn't one of her worst either. Poetry was a hobby of hers, and nature was a big inspiration for her writing. She often came up with little names for things of nature. In her eyes, the moon was like a white rose. The meaning of a white rose was purity, and as far as Adrianna was concerned, the moon was as pure as anyone could get, especially when it was full, and it casted its glow amongst the world.

Adrianna gently placed her notepad and pen back into her purse. She opened the car door and was just about to jump inside and blast the heat up when she heard barking in the distance. She turned around in the direction of the barking.

It was coming from inside the woods. Adrianna cautiously approached the border that separated the trees from the parking lot. There was definitely a dog somewhere in there.

The girl instantly gulped. Sure, she wanted to help the poor creature. She loved animals, and it sounded so sad and distressed. But… was it really a smart idea to go wandering around in the woods at night? No, it wasn't.

The barking continued.

The raven-haired girl sighed as she slowly entered the woods. She carefully maneuvered away from the branches and plants to keep away from bugs or poison ivy. The barking grew louder with each step, and Adrianna let her ears lead the way.

After slowly walking around a few moments longer, the seventeen-year-old finally found what she was looking for. There was a large white dog, sitting down in the center of the woods. Adrianna cocked her head to the side, thinking how familiar the dog seemed.

Her eyes slowly began to drift around as the dog turned to look at her. Adrianna then noticed that the dog was sitting next to a fallen body. She instantly took in a sharp inhale of breath. Was the body alive?

She slowly relaxed when she saw the chest rise and lower as oxygen was slowly filling the lungs. Cautiously, the teenager made her way over to the unconscious body. The dog crouched and growled at her.

"Shh, it's alright," Adrianna whispered, holding her hands out in front of her. "I just want to take a look. You can trust me." She held her hand out to the dog's nose, and he quickly sniffed it. After the canine's careful analysis, he slowly eased out of his defensive position.

The girl slowly walked over to the body. The shadows from the night sky and trees covered the person's appearance, but Adrianna could tell it was a guy. She gently nudged the man's shoulder, trying to wake him.

"Hello… can you hear me?" she softly said. After a couple more nudges of the shoulder, she felt the body stir.

The guy slowly lifted his hand to clutch his head. Adrianna looked on, still unable to make out his face in the darkness.

Just then, clouds that had been blocking out the moon's light began to move away. The illumination of the full moon broke through the treetops of the forest, and the girl could finally see the person's face. She gasped.

He looked just like… just like…

Kiba Inuzuka.

_The _Kiba Inuzuka.

From the Naruto Shippuuden series.

Her anime crush.

Adrianna started to hyperventilate. She looked up to see the dog staring at his master, and it almost looked like the dog was smiling. He looked just like Akamaru. _The _Akamaru.

The guy attempted to sit up, but his head began throbbing, and he fell back to the ground. "Jeez! That stupid rock hit me good!"

It couldn't be him. Kiba Inuzuka wasn't real. No matter how much Adrianna wished he was, he just wasn't. He was a fictional character. He was a character from Masashi Kishimoto's imagination. He wasn't real.

It was then that the boy realized that Adrianna was there, gaping at him like a fish. "Oh… hi," the boy said.

The girl couldn't even speak.

"Hello?" the boy asked.

He had to be a cosplay character. Yeah, that was it. He was just dressed as Kiba for some kind of anime convention. There was no way he was the real Kiba Inuzuka.

"Are you mute?" the guy asked, now a little worried.

Suddenly, an idea popped into Adrianna's head. There was a way to prove that he was a fake Kiba. His tattoos. The entire Inuzuka clan had two fang-like tattoos on their cheeks. People who dressed up as Kiba either put on face paint or stickers or taped paper to their cheeks.

The girl proceeded to pull out her water bottle and a tissue from her purse. She poured some water onto the tissue, letting the Kleenex soak up the liquid. The boy looked at her in confusion, wondering what she was doing. To his surprise, she starting wiping the wet tissue on his cheeks.

After a few moments of rubbing, Adrianna became more frantic. The red wasn't coming off his face. The tissue was only wiping off dirt and smudge, but the fang-like signatures remained where they were.

The boy's face was starting to hurt now. This chick was rubbing harder and fiercer now, and he was worried that she would break skin and rub off some layers of skin. He quickly reached out and grabbed her wrist, keeping her hand in place. "That hurts. Could you stop?" he asked in a stern voice.

Adrianna blanched. The red on his face didn't come off. It was really tattooed there. He really must be…

_"No! He is not the real Kiba! This is not some crazy fanfiction story! He must be some kind of obsessed Naruto fan who got Inuzuka tattoos because he's that addicted to Naruto!" _the girl yelled in her head.

"Uh… are you okay?" the boy asked, cautiously releasing her wrist. "You look kind of nervous."

"Who are you?" Adrianna suddenly asked.

"What?" the boy asked surprised.

"What is your name?" the girl asked urgently.

"Well, what's your name?" the boy countered.

Adrianna glared at him. "Just tell me your name! I asked you first!"

"First the worst," the boy retorted.

Seriously? Really? Adrianna was getting pretty annoyed now. "My name is Adrianna Sun. Now, who are you?"

"Kiba Inuzuka," he replied.

Her mouth fell open. He just said his name was…

"And if you'll excuse me, I have to find my teammates and that guy my team was after," Kiba said as he forced himself to stand up. "Where am I, anyway?"

Adrianna squinted at him in suspicion. "New Jersey."

"Never heard of it," Kiba said, shaking his head. However, the movement of his head made the throbbing return, and he had to lean against a tree to regain his balance.

"And… where are you from?" Adrianna asked.

"Konoha. It's in the Fire Country," Kiba said, massaging his temples.

Alright, this was enough. This kid was obviously smoking something, because he was definitely hallucinating. There was no way in this universe that he was Kiba Inuzuka, so he obviously belonged in some kind of mental institution.

"You're crazy," Adrianna said as she stood up and stormed off back to her car. "You obviously hit your head on something, because you're just insane."

"Actually, I did hit my head on something!" Kiba yelled in sudden remembrance. "That thief used some kind of jutsu, and a rock was hurled at my head before I was sucked into his portal thing."

_"Yup, definitely delusional." _Adrianna shook her head, not even looking back.

A loud barking made the girl stop in her tracks. She slowly turned to see the white dog looking up at his master in what appeared to be worry.

"What's wrong, Akamaru?" Kiba asked.

_"He even named his dog after Akamaru…" _If this were an anime or manga, Adrianna would have sweat-dropped.

The dog barked a couple more times, and Kiba looked shocked. Then his expression turned into one of suspicion as he looked up at Adrianna. "Where did you say this was?"

"New Jersey," the girl said in annoyance as she crossed her arms over her chest. "The Garden State… Trenton Makes, the World Takes… Jersey Shore… any of those names ringing a bell for you, Bingo?"

Kiba glared fiercely at her. "Akamaru says that we're not on our home continent, which means that the enemy that my team was after sent me to some kind of other dimension. Would you have any idea about that?"

"No," the raven-haired girl replied curtly.

Suddenly, the brown-haired boy was standing in front of her. He had her pinned against a tree, and he was holding her wrists tightly so she didn't try to slap him or something. The girl paled at his speed and the frightening glare he was sporting.

"You know something. I can smell it on you. Tell me everything you know," the Inuzuka growled ferociously.

"Get away from me!" she shrieked. Then she kicked him in that spot where the sun don't shine.

Kiba howled in pain as he clutched his manhood. He crumpled to the ground in a pathetic heap, and Adrianna made a break for it. After moments of weeping in pain, Kiba pulled himself up and bolted after the girl, his canine following closely as they made their way out of the forest.

Adrianna jumped in her car and started the engine in a hurry. She didn't even bother waiting for the car to warm up, even though she should have. But a crazy cosplay kid was after her, and she was not going to just sit around. Throwing the car into reverse, she quickly backed out of the parking spot. In the rearview mirror, she could see the maniac and his dog running up to the car. Quickly changing the gears, she drove off rapidly. Tossing all safety driver tips out of her mind, she joined the sea of traffic in a hurry, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and him.

Kiba stood in the parking lot, dumbfounded. What the heck was that thing that that girl had gotten into? And there were a ton of them from the looks of it; all going in one way or another along the street.

Holding his head in pain, Kiba shook his head in disbelief. "Akamaru… where the hell are we?"


	3. Sweet Dreams

**Thanks so much for the reads and reviews, guys! You're awesome!**

**Sweet Dreams by Beyoncé**

* * *

The two-story brown house came into view as the red Subaru pulled up next to the curb. The porch light was on, slightly illuminating the green lawn and plants that resided in front of the house. Turning the engine off, Adrianna exited and locked the car. She looked at her home, and then she breathed a sigh of relief.

Everything seemed normal.

That whole thing in the forest with… well, whoever that guy was really scared Adrianna. He was so convinced that he was Kiba Inuzuka; Adrianna was convinced that he belonged in the loony house.

But she was home now; everything was okay. She kept on chanting that in her head as she walked up the driveway, passing her parents' cars. She made it up the porch and turned the knob to the front door.

Upon entering, a loud annoying yipping reached Adrianna's ears. A small brown and gray blur came dashing down the hallway to greet the teen. The creature was still barking, even when it had reached Adrianna, and began to jump up and down, and even standing on its hind legs, it barely reached Adrianna's knees.

"Would you be quiet?" an annoyed female voice yelled from Adrianna's left.

The teen looked to her left to see her mother and father lounging in the living room after a long and tiring week. Adrianna walked into the room to greet them, the little dog following.

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad," Adrianna said, giving a kiss to each parent.

"Hi, sweetheart," her father, Samuel said.

"Hi, Anna. How was school?" Adrianna's mother, Jade, said.

"Fine," Adrianna shrugged.

"Did you get any tests back?" her father asked.

Adrianna sighed at his question. The first thing out of her father's mouth was always about grades and school. Sometimes he didn't even bother saying hello when she came home; he would just jump down her throat about school. He just really wanted his daughter to go to a good college. He was always complaining about how college tuition was expensive, and she would need a full scholarship to get in. Either that, or take out student loans and be in debt for the rest of her life…

Being a junior really sucked. Colleges were a pain in the butt, and classes just seemed to get tougher with each passing day. But in order to catch universities' attentions, a junior had to earn high marks in every class while juggling extracurricular activities.

"No, Dad. I didn't get any grades back," Adrianna said.

"Okay. So how was your day?" her dad asked.

"It was alright. Nothing special," the girl replied.

Yup, she just lied. She was not going to tell her parents about Jeffrey trying to get in contact with her. What was the point in telling them that? He would just disappear again anyway. And the whole Kiba thing? Well, they didn't even know she was still into Naruto, so they didn't need to know about that.

"I'm going to go do homework now," the raven-haired girl said.

"Alright, go ahead," her mom said. Adrianna turned to leave, and the small dog began barking again. "Cookie! Would you stop?" Jade scolded. The dog immediately shrunk in fear at the rise in voice. The poor dog slowly crept over to the mother of the family, rolling over onto her back in submission. "Dorky Yorky," the mother muttered.

The teen laughed as she heard her mother use one of the many nicknames the Sun family had for the pet Yorkshire terrier. Since the Yorkshire terrier's name was Cookie, she had all sorts of nicknames.

Dorky Yorky.

Cookie Monster.

Cookie Crisp.

The four-year-old dog was a gift from Adrianna's friend, Matthew. His own dog had had puppies, and he gave one to Adrianna as a Christmas gift. Matthew and Adrianna had been friends since kindergarten; they were practically like siblings since they grew up together.

Adrianna made her way into the kitchen and made herself a cup of hot chocolate. She clutched the mug softly, carrying it upstairs along with her other belongings. She made her way upstairs and dumped her bags on the floor of her bedroom. She placed the mug of hot chocolate on her desk next to her laptop.

The girl exited the bedroom and went across the hall. The door across from her room was open, and Adrianna stepped inside to see her ten-year-old sister playing with her Game Boy.

"Hi, Alicia," the teen said, leaning against the frame of the doorway.

"Hey, Anna," the other girl replied, not looking up from her game.

"Are you playing Pokémon again?" Adrianna smiled.

"Uh, duh!" the ten-year-old said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Best game ever."

The adolescent laughed as she stared at her younger sister. Alicia was so into her game; she was probably battling another trainer in her game or something. The kid's eyebrows were furrowed in determination and concentration.

Adrianna smirked at the similarities she saw in her sister and herself. The sisters had often been told that they looked alike, and Adrianna believed it. The two both had deep brown eyes and an olive complexion. They both had long hair, except Adrianna's was black while Alicia's was dark brown. They were both nearsighted, so they both wore glasses.

However, their personalities could be very different. Adrianna was more serious while Alicia was definitely more hyper. When Adrianna was studying, Alicia was dancing to songs she would make up on the spot. And they were usually having petty fights when they weren't having civil conversations.

But that was what having a sister was about, right?

"Don't stare at that thing too long, Alice. It'll ruin your eyes," Adrianna said.

"I already have glasses. It can't get much worse than this," Alicia replied.

"Whatever you want to believe," the teen smirked as she turned to leave.

"Oh, wait! Anna!" the little girl yelled, suddenly leaping from the bed and pausing her Pokémon game.

"What's up?"

Alicia went digging under her pillow and whipped out a small cardboard box. She held it out to her older sister. "It came in today."

Adrianna gasped. "Really?"

She cautiously walked over to the bed and gently took the box in her hands. She looked at the mailing address, and indeed, it was what she had been waiting for. Straight from Japan, it was the next Naruto volume.

"Yes!" Adrianna punched the air in excitement.

"Ahem," the little girl interrupted her sister's victory dance. The elder girl turned to see her sister's hand extended, as if awaiting for something in return.

The teen slouched in disappointment. "Really?"

"Yes!" Alicia exclaimed. "Do you know how much work I go through to get you your manga volume? I have to get the mail everyday just to make sure Mom and Dad don't see it if it happens to come. And then when it does come, I have to sneak it passed them and into my room. It's a lot of work," she explained in a dramatic fashion.

Adrianna glared at her younger sister. "You're evil, you little mischievous devil child."

"Hey, even devil children need some kind of payment," Alicia said, with her hand still extended.

"Well, I can't give you money. I don't get paid until next week, so I need to save what I have for gas for the car," Adrianna said.

"Oh well," Alicia shrugged. "Guess Mom and Dad will just have to know that you've been spending that gas money on manga shipping deliveries."

"You wouldn't dare," Adrianna said, her eyes squinted in suspicion and doubt.

"Do you know who you're talking to?" Alicia asked.

She suddenly made a dash passed Adrianna toward the stairs. Shocked, the elder girl quickly turned around and tackled her sister to the ground.

"How about I give you chocolate, huh? You like chocolate, Alice," the teen asked as she looked down at the girl who was being squashed beneath her.

"What kind?" Alicia asked suspiciously.

"Whatever kind you want. I have a whole stash," Adrianna said.

"Hmm… alright. Just get off of me. You're crushing me," Alicia gasped.

"Hey! That's all muscle from varsity swimming, I'll have you know!" Adrianna said as she helped her sister stand up.

"Hey, the extra weight could be from this candy stash you're about to show me," Alicia shrugged.

"Well, now that you're insulting me, you can forget about that chocolate," Adrianna said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"And then you can say goodbye to Naruto," Alicia countered, crossing her own arms.

The adolescent glared at her sister. "You are so conniving. How are we even related?"

"That's a conversation for another day. For now, chocolate!"

The teen shook her head in defeat. She turned to go into her room and dug through one of her drawers in the bedside table. She took out a large paper bag full with candy. Upon seeing the bag, the ten-year-old raised an eyebrow.

"What? I get cravings, alright? I'm a swimmer, we like to eat," Adrianna said defensively. "Just take your pick."

After a few moments of digging through the bag, the ten-year-old made her selection of three pieces of chocolate. "Okay, we're all cool now," Alicia smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now get out of my room so I can read in peace," the older sister ordered.

"Fine, fine. Enjoy your manga," the little girl said as she departed.

The teen shook her head in awe. "Yup… definitely the devil's child…" she muttered.

She quickly changed out of her street clothes and put on a black Richardson High Swim Team sweatshirt and red and black plaid pajama pants. She took a seat on her small comfy armchair, grabbed her hot chocolate, and tore open the box that held her Naruto book. A Bridge to Peace.

* * *

_The man was a true shinobi down to the bone, even while his final destination remained unclear. Now, the final chapter in a long spiral of betrayal._

"Adrianna! Take the dog out! She has to pee!" the man of the household yelled up the stairs.

"I'm doing homework!" Adrianna lied, yelling back as she didn't make a move to leave her comfy seat.

"You have all weekend to do homework. But Cookie has to go out now. So let's go!" Sam ordered his eldest daughter.

Adrianna groaned as she removed herself from her armchair. She was just about to begin another chapter in her new manga volume. She had already read three chapters. She was now on chapter 508, "A Death Befitting a Shinobi". A picture of Kisame Hoshigaki and a large shark was the front page of the chapter, and Adrianna was just about to delve deeper into the Naruto world when her dad had called her.

She glanced at her clock. It read 10:23 P.M. "Oh yeah, just send a teenage girl out in the dark November cold at nearly ten thirty at night. That is totally safe…" Adrianna muttered to herself sarcastically.

She slipped on her sneakers and put on her winter coat as she walked down the stairs. She grabbed the dog leash, but low and behold, the dog was nowhere to be found.

"Every time!" Adrianna screamed.

"Adrianna, what do you do to the dog that makes her hide from you whenever you have to take her out?" the girl's mother asked.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" Adrianna countered unhappily.

She trudged into the kitchen and found the little Yorkshire terrier hiding under the table. The dog wasn't even cowering in fear or anything. She was just sitting there, staring at the teen. If anything, Adrianna could have sworn there was mischief in the dog's eyes. She had that 'Haha, you can't catch me' look in her black eyes.

"You little monster," Adrianna muttered. "Come," she said in a stern enough voice.

The dog slowly made her way out from under the table and walked over to the adolescent. Adrianna picked her up and held her in her arms. She hooked the leash on the collar and placed a quick kiss on the dog's head.

"You are so annoying, Cookie. It's a good thing you're cute," Adrianna smiled down at the small canine.

She put the dog back down on the floor, and the two went out the front door and into the freezing cold. Adrianna had hoped that she wouldn't have to stray too far away from the house; she just wanted to get back inside to the warmth. But of course, Cookie wanted to drag her down the street toward the small woodsy area that sat a little distance away from the house.

The dog had to stop and sniff at practically every blade of grass they happened to pass by. Meanwhile, Adrianna was just being dragged along. For a ten-pound Yorkshire terrier, Cookie could be pretty strong sometimes. By now, the dog had dragged her teen master out of sight from the Sun household. And Adrianna didn't like being close to the woods. The last time she had been in the woods, she had met a crazed Naruto fanatic who looked a lot like her anime crush.

The teenager was snapped out of her thoughts by a sudden growling. She looked down to see Cookie staring at something in the woods, growling in a deep snarl. Becoming slightly nervous now, Adrianna tugged on the leash, trying to drag the small dog with her.

"C'mon, Cookie. Let's go," the girl whispered, almost as if she was afraid someone else would hear her.

Adrianna started dragging Cookie along with her, and she turned around to head back into the house. However, just as she turned around, she bumped into something. Something that wasn't there two seconds before.

Startled, the junior shook her head and looked at what she had bumped into. Or rather, who she had bumped into.

The Kiba look-alike.

Adrianna opened her mouth to scream, but the guy quickly placed his hand over her mouth. "Don't scream," he ordered, his voice in a low growl. After a few moments, he thought it safe. So he removed his hand.

"AAHH-"

The girl's scream was interrupted by the boy smacking his hand back over her mouth. "Stop it."

He removed his hand again to be met with, "AH-"

"Stop," he ordered again as he placed both hands over her mouth. He made to remove his hands for a third time, but she looked about ready to continue screaming, so he put them back in place. "Don't do it."

He finally removed his hands, and Adrianna closed her eyes tightly. "EEEPPP!" she squeaked. She opened one eye to look at him and then quickly shut it again. "Oh my god, oh my god, OH MY GOD!"

The guy stared at her as she had a short panic attack. "Are you done yet?"

Adrianna started hyperventilating. "What the heck are you doing here? Did you follow me home? Are you a stalker or something?"

"Well, it sure wasn't easy following you, I'll tell you that much," the brown-haired boy said. "There are way too many scents in this place to sort through, and the air in this area is so polluted."

"Look, I don't know who you are or why you are bothering me, but please just go…"

Adrianna trailed off of her sentence as she noticed something peculiar. Cookie was sniffing the guy's leg in interest, and she didn't seem scared or anything. She seemed to really like the Kiba look-alike. Usually, it was only in movies when the dog found interest in the random stranger.

Suddenly, a large white beast emerged from the bushes beside the guy, and Adrianna's poor dog shrunk low to the ground in fear. When the big white dog came closer, the Yorkshire terrier quickly flipped over onto her back in submission. Her ears back and her paws practically held up in surrender, Cookie was the picture of cowardice.

Adrianna face-palmed. "Cookie, you make a terrible guard dog."

"Hey, isn't that a cute little girl," the boy said suddenly as he looked at the dog. He bent down and started rubbing Cookie's stomach, and the dog let the stranger massage her.

"Hey! Get off my dog!" the junior quickly shouted as she picked the dog up and held her close to her body. "Who are you? Where are you from?"

"My name is Kiba Inuzuka. I am of the Village Hidden in the Leaves in the Fire Country. I am a registered chuunin of my village. My dog's name is Akamaru, and he is my qualified ninja hound, my partner throughout combat and shinobi arts," the boy said seriously.

There was no hint of humor or falsity within his features, which is what made Adrianna even more nervous. "There… there's no way you're a real ninja."

"What do you mean?"

"There are no ninjas here!" Adrianna yelled.

"Well, I am a shinobi. There's really no way you can convince me that I'm not," Kiba said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Fine, if you are so convinced that you are a real ninja, prove it. Do something ninja-ish," Adrianna countered.

Kiba quirked his eyebrow at her request. "Fine."

He raised his arms in front of himself in an X formation as he began to concentrate. Adrianna just watched with doubtful amusement. _"Ha, I bet this weirdo is trying to summon chakra or something."_

Then, what the girl saw next really frightened her.

The boy standing in front of her began to almost… change. His teeth became noticeably sharper. His eyes somehow became fiercer and wilder. His hands seemed to evolve into claws with sharpened nails. And if that wasn't enough, Adrianna could practically feel some kind of beastly energy emanating from him.

She involuntarily shivered.

"Akamaru!" Kiba called. The boy crouched down to the ground so that he was on all fours, and his white dog leaped up so that he was standing on top of his master's back.

Clutching Cookie closer to her chest, Adrianna gasped as a whirl of wind suddenly picked up in the dark night. Dirt and dust swept up into a light tornado around Kiba and Akamaru.

"Man Beast Clone Jutsu!" the boy's voice yelled from within the tornado of dust.

A poof of smoke appeared, and the girl inhaled sharply and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, the smoke disappeared, and Adrianna gasped. She would have screamed, but she couldn't find her voice.

Kiba was now standing in front of her, a smug smile on his face. But what scared Adrianna out of her wits was the fact that there was another Kiba standing right beside the original. Actually, both were smiling cockily at her, and she couldn't tell which one was the real one.

But it didn't matter which one was which. The fact of the matter was that there were two of them… two of him…

When the girl finally did find her voice, she was only able to stammer unintelligible sentences. "Ah… it did… what the… huh…"

"Was that ninja-ish enough for you?" the real Kiba asked.

Adrianna's mouth was left hanging open as she gaped at the sight before her. She slowly reached a hand out and poked Kiba's arm. He raised an eyebrow at her. Then she did the same to the other Kiba. Akamaru… or Kiba's copy… merely looked at her in interest, wondering what she was doing.

The girl started to hyperventilate. They were really there. They weren't illusions. For real, they were actually there. "This can't be happening…" she muttered almost inaudibly.

Another poof of smoke appeared around the second Kiba, and Adrianna almost jumped out of her skin. Akamaru was once again standing beside his master. "Told you I was a ninja," Kiba grinned smugly.

"I… I still don't understand… why are you here?" Adrianna asked.

"I followed you because I still think you know some information that can help me. Plus, you're the one who found me in the woods, so you're the only one I can really turn to right now," Kiba said as he shrugged.

"No, what I mean is… what are you doing here? Like, in this place. In this world!" Adrianna said with a wide sweeping gesture with her one free arm.

"Oh, well my team and I were tracking down this rogue ninja. He's a serial thief, so we were sent to track him and apprehend him," Kiba explained. "But he used some type of space continuum technique and created some freaky portal thing. A rock hit me in the head, and the next thing I remember, I'm on the ground in the woods, where you found me."

Adrianna's eyes were as wide as saucers. It wasn't due to his story… well, maybe a little bit. But what was really scaring Adrianna was the question: How on earth had she gotten involved in all of this?

Taking a few deep breaths to steady her nerves, she looked into Kiba's black eyes. "Okay, let me think." She pinched the bridge of her nose, hoping to focus without freaking out. "Well, what about your team? What happened to Hinata and Shino?"

Silence.

Adrianna looked up into Kiba's eyes again. His face showed confusion and ferocity at the same time. The girl was bewildered, wondering why he was staring at her with such a strange look.

Then she realized what she had said. She clapped her hand over her mouth in shock, inwardly cursing at herself for her stupidity. "Can… Can we forget that I said that?" she asked weakly.

As quick as lightning with just as much force as thunder, Kiba grabbed Adrianna and threw her up against a tree. He had one arm pushed against Adrianna's gut and the other pressed against her throat. Akamaru was crouching slightly, growling lowly at the girl. Cookie started barking wildly, trying to jump out of her teenage master's arms to lunge and attack the stranger.

"How do you know my teammates' names? I never once said who they were," Kiba growled ferociously.

"I… I…" Adrianna choked out.

"Tell me!" Kiba yelled in her face as he leaned in closer.

Adrianna could see the points of his canines as he bared his beastly fangs at her. She closed her eyes tightly, almost as if that single act of fear would shield her from the pain that the ninja would surely inflict on her.

Not thinking, merely acting, Adrianna quickly snapped her hand up and slapped it across Kiba's cheek. Shocked at being struck so suddenly, Kiba stepped backwards and gingerly caressed his cheek. He glared daggers at the female.

Adrianna brought her hand up to her throat, taking in gulps of air like her life depended on it. She slowly slid to the ground, sitting on the grass and clutching her Yorkshire terrier close to her. "What is the matter with you?" she gasped.

"How do you know who my teammates are? Are you some sort of spy or something?" Kiba asked, ignoring her question.

"First of all, if I was a spy, I wouldn't have made a slipup like that and said their names!" Adrianna screamed. Kiba still glared at her, and then he slowly started to ease out of his threatening stare as he realized the truth in her words. "I'm just an ordinary teenage girl. And I won't help you if you keep throwing me up against trees like that, like I'm some kind of criminal. You're lucky I didn't kick you in your man business again!"

Kiba sighed. "Fine. You're right." He reached his hand out to her, and she hesitantly took it. He helped her to her feet, and she brushed the dirt off of her pants.

"Okay. I'll only help you if you promise not to do that again. You'll get sent to prison if you keep doing that here," Adrianna said.

"Alright, alright," Kiba replied. "Now, you obviously know something about where I'm from, otherwise you wouldn't have known about Hinata and Shino. So are you going to tell me everything you know?"

Adrianna bit her lip in nervousness. "Alright… I guess I'll try to help you," she nodded. "Go hide in front of my house. My bedroom is on that side of the house, so I'll open my window for you to come in. My parents cannot see or hear you, or else they'll kill me for having a boy in my room."

"Okay," Kiba nodded. He disappeared quickly, Akamaru following.

Adrianna practically sprinted to her house, dragging Cookie along with her. She arrived back at the house and threw the door open.

"Hey, what took you so long, honey?" Jade asked her daughter.

"Uh… Cookie… couldn't find a good place to do her business…" Adrianna lied quickly as she unhooked the leash and hung it back on the hook.

"How late are you staying up until?" her father asked.

"Um… I don't know."

"Because we're going to bed now. It's getting late," Sam said as he stood up.

"Okay. Good night," Adrianna said as she kissed both of her parents good night.

She followed her parents upstairs, Cookie trailing behind the family. The adults kissed Alicia good night, and then they retreated into their room. Cookie pranced inside after the parents, plopping down in a comfortable spot beside the bed.

Adrianna waited for their door to close. After she heard the click of the closed door, she sprinted into her own room and closed the door. She was about to run over to the window when something caught her eye.

Her new Naruto manga was resting on her armchair. She stared at it for a moment longer when she suddenly gasped. Adrianna grabbed the book and threw it in a box she had lying under her desk. Her collection of Naruto manga. She pushed the box back under her desk to hide it. She just didn't think it would be a good idea for Kiba to see the manga from which he was from. At least not right then.

After making sure there was nothing Naruto-ish that just happened to be lying around, she ran to the window and threw it open. She looked out into the dark night, trying to spot the ninja and his hound.

Suddenly, Kiba and Akamaru were kneeling in front of her. They were standing on the roof that sat in front of her window. Adrianna nearly jumped out of her skin at their sudden arrival.

"Jeez, you scared the crap out of me!" she hissed as she moved out of the way for them to come in.

"Hey, nice place," Kiba complimented as he climbed through the window. "You got any food?"

Adrianna stared at him like he was crazy. She quickly closed the window to block the chilly air once Akamaru made his way inside. "Excuse me?"

"Hey, I haven't eaten all day, alright? Don't blame me because I'm hungry," Kiba pouted.

And it was at that moment when Adrianna realized that she was talking to the Kiba Inuzuka. He wasn't some crazy maniac who belonged in a mental institution anymore. He was real. Her favorite character from her favorite manga was standing in her bedroom. The fictional character… her anime crush… was actually there.

Adrianna almost passed out at that moment. Somehow, she was able to stay upright as she stared at Kiba. Shaking her head at her fan girl instincts, she went over to a drawer and pulled out her stash of candy.

"Here, just have something from this. I am not going into the kitchen just to please your appetite," Adrianna said.

"Someone sounds a little snippy," Kiba grinned as he took a handful of chocolate treats out of the bag.

"Well, it's not everyday a ninja practically lands on my front porch," Adrianna said.

"Technically, I landed in the woods," Kiba countered as he shoved a piece of chocolate into his mouth.

"Yeah, the woods next to my school," Adrianna replied.

"You still go to school?" Kiba asked.

"Yes. School doesn't end until you're around eighteen," Adrianna said. "And then there's college… so in this world, people are usually in school until they're about twenty-one. Sometimes more."

"Whoa! That sucks for you guys. I graduated at twelve," Kiba said, almost as if he was bragging towards her.

"Yeah, well your ninja school is different than high school. Trust me," Adrianna said, rolling her eyes. "So do you want to discuss your situation or not?"

"Alright," Kiba said as he took a seat in her armchair. Akamaru plopped down by his master's feet.

"Okay, you told me about the space continuum guy," Adrianna said as she sat on her bed. "What else is there?"

"Well, that's it from my perspective. I want to know whatever it is you know," Kiba said, leaning forward to stare at her. His elbows rested on his knees as he gave an expectant look.

"Um… like what?" Adrianna asked nervously as she started to blush slightly.

"Well, you never did get around to answering my question of how you know my teammates," Kiba said.

"Um… well, uh… you see…"

Oh crap. Should she tell him that he was only a fictional character? That his entire life was supposed to be determined by the ideas of Masashi Kishimoto? That… he wasn't even the main character… that he was just a supporting character?

"Uh… remember when I said that ninjas don't exist here?" Adrianna asked.

"Yeah," Kiba replied.

"Well, that was true. There are no ninjas here, or at least not ninjas that use chakra," Adrianna said. "The reason why I know about your teammates… and chakra for that matter is because… in my world, many things that have happened in your world have already happened."

"What do you mean?" Kiba asked in confusion.

"Let's see, how do I put this…?" Adrianna said, biting her thumb in thought. How could she pull off a decent lie without really lying? "I know what has happened in your world because my world is ahead of your time. Like, we're in the future, and you're in the past."

"So… you know everything that's ever happened in my world?" Kiba asked.

"Well, there are some fuzzy things here and there," Adrianna said, tugging on a strand of hair in nervousness.

"So that means someone has to know a way to send me back, right?" Kiba asked in hopefulness.

"Um… well, not everyone knows about it. It's almost like… a select few know about your world because they have studied it. Such as me," Adrianna said.

Well, that part was true. Some people didn't even know what the manga of Naruto was. She, however, looked up information on characters, stats, bios, the whole shebang when it came to Naruto.

"Hmm… so how do I know I can trust you?" Kiba asked, leaning back against the chair and crossing his arms.

"Because honestly, if you went to someone else and started telling your story of how you were sent here from another dimension, you would be sent to the loony house," Adrianna said with a smile.

"Then I would just use my chakra and do some kickass moves to impress them. That would make everyone believe me," the ninja countered.

"No, that will get you sent to some kind of government lab where scientists will test you to look for any form of mutant evidence," Adrianna shot back.

"Ugh," Kiba groaned as he threw his head back against the chair. Then he suddenly winced in pain. He clutched his head to stop the throbbing aching in his cranium. "Ow."

"Are you alright?" Adrianna asked worriedly.

"Yeah. It's just that rock that hit me on the head from when I was sucked into this world," Kiba explained. "I can feel a huge lump there."

"Hold on, I'll get you some ice," Adrianna said as she left her room.

She went downstairs and into the kitchen to retrieve some ice. She grabbed a plastic bag and stuffed ice cubes into it. As she did this, she couldn't help but think about what was suddenly happening.

An actual character from Naruto was sitting in her room. She had had a conversation with him. And she actually didn't pass out from talking to him, considering she loved his character. Then the thought of how things were going to work out drifted into her mind. Adrianna had always wished Kiba really existed. He was cute, fun, and cool. And now he was actually here.

But it would never work. He was a fictional character. A ninja from a Japanese manga. He wasn't real. No matter how much Adrianna wished he really existed, he just didn't. And somehow, fate had chosen her to help Kiba get back home. She didn't know how on earth she was going to do that, but she knew she would help him no matter what.

That was her job. She would help him home, and that would be it. And once he was back, she would just go back to fantasizing about being with him.

Adrianna sighed. She grabbed the bag of ice and headed back upstairs. Lost in her thoughts, she walked into her room.

"Adrianna!" a voice exclaimed loudly.

Adrianna jumped in astonishment at the voice. She looked up to see Alicia standing in her room, a look of confusion on her face. The elder girl gawked. But then she realized something important.

Kiba and Akamaru were nowhere to be seen.

"I was wondering where you went," Alicia said as she looked at her older sister. Then she raised an eyebrow. "Why are you holding a bag of ice?"

"Uh…" Adrianna stammered. "I… hit my head against the wall. I just needed something to soothe it."

"Hmm…" the ten-year-old stared at her suspiciously. "Well, I was going to bed. I came here to say good night."

"Oh, yeah. Good night, Alice," Adrianna said as she kissed her sister on the forehead.

The ten-year-old left the room, closing the door behind her. The teen instantly grew tense, slowly looking around the room.

"Kiba!" she hissed. "Where'd you go?"

Her closet door suddenly opened, and Kiba and Akamaru walked out. "Dang, that was close," Kiba laughed.

Adrianna's hand instantly went to cover her heart in relief. "My gosh, you scared the crap out of me!"

"Hey, don't worry about me," Kiba grinned.

The girl almost fainted at his handsome smile. "Uh, yeah, here's your ice," she muttered as she handed him the bag of ice.

"Thanks," he said as he held it to his head. "So what's the plan now, Adrianna?"

"Well, I think the first thing we should establish is trust," the raven-haired girl said as she sat down on her bed, cross-legged. "Do you trust me?"

Kiba stared into her eyes. Her brown orbs showed only honesty and care. So he nodded. "Yeah, I trust you. Do you trust me?"

"Yes, I do," Adrianna smiled.

"So you'll try and help me find a way home?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah. But meanwhile, you'll have to try and fit in. You can't go around being a ninja here. That'll get you arrested or something along those lines," Adrianna said.

"What are you suggesting, exactly?" the brown-haired boy asked nervously.

"Well…" Adrianna scratched her head nervously. "I was thinking you let me teach you how to fit in."

"What will that involve?"

"Going to school, wearing the right clothes, learning about our society…" Adrianna explained. "You can think of it as a mission."

The boy stared at her for a few moments, pondering on his decision. He was a little skeptical on her plan. Sure, he liked the idea of her helping him get home. But he wasn't too sure on the whole 'fitting in' part. It could end in disaster.

But he sighed in defeat. "I guess I really don't have a choice. You are the only one I know who would be willing to help me."

Adrianna nodded. "So do we have a deal?" She held her hand out to him.

"Yeah, deal," Kiba grinned as he shook her hand.

"Great. Come by tomorrow morning," she smiled warmly at him.

"You got it," Kiba said. He turned on his heel and headed towards the window. "See you tomorrow, then."

"See you," Adrianna waved. Kiba grinned and then jumped out of the window, Akamaru following.

Adrianna closed the window after he left. She sighed as she plopped down on her bed. Realization hit her, and she smacked her hands to her face.

"I just made a plan with the Kiba Inuzuka to help him get back to his own dimension. I am helping a fictional character try to fit in to my world." Adrianna began to shake her head as she stared at her ceiling. "What is up with my life?"


	4. Upside Down

**Thank you guys so much for reading this! It's nice to know that people are actually reading my stories!**

**Upside Down by A*Teens**

* * *

Sunlight streamed in through the blinds of the window. Strips of light landed right on the sleeping girl's face. The raven-haired teenager moaned in protest as the bright light burned her eyelids. She could see the reddish hue of the sunlight brightening the black darkness that she had loved. Eyes scrunching closed even tighter to block the light, the adolescent picked up the pillow she had been resting her head on and threw it on top of her head, welcoming the new black shade.

Unfortunately for Adrianna, she was already half awake, allowing her to hear any and every movement that occurred in the house.

The sound of her father cooking could be heard from all the way downstairs. Pans, pots, and lids clanged together loudly, and the sound of the sink's running water added to the kitchen sounds.

Adrianna could hear her mother just a few rooms down, gathering dirty laundry from the hamper. The television in her parent's bedroom was blasting, the news reporter's voice talking about something stupid like he always did.

Cookie was barking at something outside, filling the entire house with her annoying yapping.

Then, of course, there was her younger sister yammering on about something that was the most interesting thing ever.

"_You're only in fifth grade; what could possibly be so interesting that you need to be up so early?"_ Adrianna hissed angrily in her head.

The teenager punched her pillow in frustration before she finally mustered up enough energy to lift her head and look at the clock. It took a few seconds for the fuzziness in her eyes to go away, and the time on her digital clock finally appeared through her terrible vision. She had to squint and blink repeatedly before she read the time as 7:37 a.m.

"_It's not even 8 o'clock yet! What kind of ten-year-old gets up this early on a Saturday?"_ Adrianna groaned.

Her head fell back on her pillow, and she tried to force herself back into a peaceful sleep. But now her mind was working, and it was too awake to let her fall asleep again.

She sighed in exasperation, and she grudgingly lifted herself up into a sitting position on her bed. She blindly reached over onto her nightstand and picked up her glasses from next to her clock. The girl rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes and placed her glasses on her face. Her brown eyes stared dizzily in front of her, staring at nothing particular.

Then her eyes widened as memories from the night before came down on her like a tidal wave.

"Holy… crap…" she muttered.

She flung herself out from under her covers and ran to the window. She didn't particularly know why she ran to look out her window, but it seemed like the most logical thing to do at the moment. Adrianna threw the glass pane open, and the chilly winter air immediately blew into her face. Her teeth chattered from the cold and nippy air, but she still looked out to gaze at the outside world.

The teen's window gave a view of the front of her family's home. The green of the front lawn looked frozen from the cold air. She glanced at the neighboring homes, and from what she could tell, her entire street looked fairly quiet. Everyone was most likely still asleep.

Her home was the last on the street. From where Adrianna stood in her room, the other homes proceeded down to the right of her house, all the way down the road. On her left, the street continued, but both sides held trees, rather than houses.

It was there that Adrianna had met Kiba Inuzuka for the second time in one night.

But now there was no sign of him, and the adolescent began to question her sanity. She held a hand up to her head, wondering if everything with the anime boy was real or a dream.

"Was I standing too close to a drum at the Jazz Festival preparation or something?" Adrianna whispered to herself.

She shook her head in wonder and confusion as she stepped away from the window. Had she really imagined that whole thing? She couldn't deny that she had often thought about what it would be like to meet her dreamy anime crush. Maybe one of her daydreams had gotten way out of hand…

"That's what I get for eating pixie sticks for energy…" she murmured, shaking her head.

A strong wind blew against her back, making her shiver, even while she was wearing her heavy school sweatshirt and flannel pants. She cursed at her stupidity and ran to go close her window. Adrianna reached up to pull down the glass-

"Hiya, Adrianna!" the sudden tan face appeared before her, red-fanged tattoos standing out against his feral features.

"AAHH!" the raven-haired girl jumped up in surprise before she clamped a hand over her mouth.

Kiba removed his hands from his ears as he slightly glared at her. "Seriously? I thought you were done with the screaming."

Adrianna's eyes widened. The fictional character was sitting on the ledge of the roof that sat just in front of her window. His big white hound was seated by his master. They really were there.

"Uh… sorry… I just… I honestly thought it was a dream that-"

An unexpected knock alerted the two teens and the dog that someone was outside Adrianna's door.

"Honey?" her mother's voice called worriedly from the other side of the wooden door. "Is everything alright?"

"Shoot!" Adrianna jumped in a panic. Her frightened brown eyes turned to meet the dark eyes of the Naruto character. "You gotta hide!"

Boy and canine were just about to jump down off the roof, when Adrianna hissed at them.

"Don't do that! Someone will see you!"

She reached out and grabbed Kiba's muscled arm, and she pulled him inside her room. The maneuver surprised the boy, causing him to be less ninja-like than usual, and he crashed to the floor, creating a loud _thump_. Akamaru jumped in after his owner, creating another although quieter _thump_.

The frantic teen quickly pushed the pair under her bed just as Jade walked into her daughter's room. Her brown eyes looked up to see her teenager standing in the middle of the room, and the older woman looked at her expectantly.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" the mother asked. A laundry basket was held in one arm, leaning against her hip for support. She was wearing a sweat jacket over a T-shirt and sweatpants. Her shoulder-length black hair was pulled into a ponytail, making her freckles stand out a bit more than usual.

"Uh… yeah, I'm fine… Why do you ask?" Adrianna asked, trying to sound normal but failing miserably.

Jade eyed her daughter suspiciously. "I heard you scream… And then I thought I heard something fall… twice."

"Oh… I just screamed… because I had a nightmare… And then I fell… twice," the girl replied, her brown eyes shifting nervously. She hated herself for being a terrible liar. The only positive thing was that she was usually nervous anyway. She hated herself for that too.

"Alright…" Jade nodded a bit uncertainly. She was about to leave and close the door when she felt the cold air in the room. "My god, it's freezing in here, Adrianna!" She looked back up at her daughter and noticed the open window for the first time. "Why on earth do you have the window open?"

"Uh… I was sweating after the nightmare. I needed some fresh air…" Adrianna replied. Well, she may have been a bad liar, but she was excellent at improvising. Go figure.

"Well, close it for goodness sake before you catch a cold," Jade scolded.

"Yes, Mom," the teen responded. The woman nodded and closed the door, not forgetting to remind her daughter about laundry.

Once her mother had left, Adrianna closed the window, blocking out the freezing air. She relished in the warmth that slowly returned as the wind ceased in her room. The boy and his dog dragged themselves out from under her bed, and the girl couldn't help but feel extremely guilty.

She had just lied to her mom. More importantly, she had hid a boy under her bed and lied about it. Adrianna had never thought she would ever do that.

But he was a fictional character. Surely, that didn't count, right?

"_Of course it does, you idiot,"_ a voice yelled in her head. Adrianna flinched slightly, but luckily, the ninja and his canine companion didn't notice.

"So anyways, what's the plan for today?" Kiba asked as he stood up straight.

Adrianna truly had to keep herself from blushing and sounding nervous. "Well… wait a minute, why are you asking me?"

Kiba's head tilted downwards, his eyes looking up at her in surprise. "Well, first of all, I have no idea what this world is like. Second, you're the only one who knows anything about who I am. Third, you're the one who promised to help me."

Adrianna lifted a hand to the back of her head, scratching her messy hair slightly in nervousness. "Aha… right…"

She fingered her chin in thought with her other hand. Unfortunately, she was drawing a blank. And she knew the reason for it too.

A cute boy was standing in her bedroom, his full attention on her.

The very thought made her heat up, and she prayed to whatever force there was that she wouldn't start blushing uncontrollably. She would not and could not allow herself to be a fangirl. She always hated those types of girls, and she was not going to consider herself in that same category.

She took a deep calming breath and cleared her mind, allowing her to think better.

The smart thing to do would probably be to get him settled in this world.

He would need clothes; she could manage that.

He would need food; that would be easy.

He would need to go to school with her, as she honestly didn't trust him alone for six and a half hours five days a week; that would be trickier, but she would figure something out.

He would need a place to stay…

"_Oh god…"_ Adrianna's eyes widened.

There was no way he could stay in her house; she couldn't pull that off. She didn't have money to rent a random room for him, and that was if she could even find one in the first place.

She sighed; she would have to cross that bridge when it came.

"Well… I guess, we'll be going shopping today," Adrianna finally said as she looked at Kiba.

"Really?" the boy whined, his shoulders slumping forward.

"Well, you can't go around wearing the same thing everyday," the girl replied, digging her hands into her hips.

The brown-haired boy's head fell back to stare at the ceiling in exasperation as he heard the truth in her words. "Fine… Well, before you drag me to go shopping, can I at least take a shower?"

The girl's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. "What?"

"C'mon, I stink," Kiba shrugged. He rolled his eyes at the disbelieving look on her face. "I was on a mission for a whole day before I was sent here, give me a break. I've been through worse, obviously, but if I'm spending the day with actual people, I'd rather not get a comment about how I smell like a dog."

Adrianna smiled a bit at the last part of his small tirade, but it quickly fell back into a frown. "My entire family is home. What if you get caught?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, and his lips pulled into a smirk. "I'm not a girl. My showers don't take ridiculously long. They'll just assume you're taking a shower." The tan boy raised his head a bit, and his nose sniffed the air for a moment before he smiled. "And your whole family is downstairs anyways. It'll be alright, okay?"

After rolling her eyes, Adrianna crossed her arms. After a minute of staring at each other, she finally relented. "Fine. Ten minutes is all you get."

"Which is eight more than I'll need," Kiba grinned, his fangs showing a bit.

He cautiously opened her bedroom door, peeking out to make sure the coast was clear. After confirming no one was around, he headed down the hall towards the bathroom. The bathroom was across the hall, next to Alice's bedroom. The main bedroom was all the way at the end of the hall.

The black-haired girl sighed. She figured she would take a shower when the boy was done. Once again, she couldn't help but blush at the fact that a boy was taking a shower in her home. Her anime crush, no less.

Adrianna felt herself being watched, and she turned to see the large white dog staring up at her, sitting in the middle of her floor patiently, tail wagging slightly.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me for… two minutes." She grimaced at the thought of such a short shower. If he really stunk, what was a two-minute shower going to do?

The seventeen-year-old sat down cross-legged on her floor, holding her hand out to the wolfish hound. Akamaru eagerly trotted over to her, and he let his new friend scratch his ears and chin. After minutes of comfortable head massages, the hound rolled over onto his back, begging for a belly rub. Adrianna smiled at the big dog.

Cookie was like an ant compared to this large beast, but in the end, all dogs were the same. Her own Yorky enjoyed belly rubs and ear scratches. And evidently, ninja hounds were just as eager for attention as normal canines were.

As fate would have, said Yorky suddenly came bounding up the stairs and flew into the teen's bedroom. Adrianna's eyes widened at the sight of her dog, but she relaxed when she realized that it was only Cookie who was coming upstairs. What was she going to do, tell on her?

The world truly hated the high school junior.

Cookie began barking uncontrollably, obviously jealous to see her teenage master petting another dog. In the Yorky's eyes, it was a betrayal, and the small brown and gray dog jumped on the bigger white dog, hoping to scare him off.

Akamaru stood up, and his black eyes turned to Cookie's own dark eyes. Within a second, the Yorkshire terrier was on her back, paws up in surrender. Adrianna shook her head in disbelief.

"What… is that?"

The teen's eyes widened. This could not be happening.

Her head shot right up, and she saw her younger sister standing in the doorway. Dressed in heavy sweats, her ten-year-old sister held up her index finger and pointed at the white dog in her bedroom.

"_Crap! Crap! Crap!"_ Adrianna bit her lip. "Uh… Well… he's a dog, obviously."

"What's he doing here?" Alice asked.

What the heck? Wouldn't most ten-year-olds just say 'Ooh, doggie!'? Why was her sister so freaking insightful?

"I… found him…" Adrianna said anxiously. _"Darn me and my lame lying skills!"_

Alice cocked her head in genuine bewilderment. "It's only eight in the morning. And you didn't even come downstairs yet."

Seriously? Really? Why the heck was the girl so smart?

Before the panicked teenager could come up with another excuse, two minutes had ended.

The boy from Adrianna's favorite manga walked into the open bedroom door. His brown hair was dripping wet, and his skin was slightly shiny from the water. He was still wearing his black pants, and he had replaced his mesh shirt back over his body. But that didn't prevent a clear view of his muscled upper body and arms.

Adrianna's eyes widened. Her action was due to his terrible timing and his amazingly toned body.

Kiba, however, gawked at the little girl standing in the teen's bedroom. He had been holding his black leather jacket and forehead protector in one hand and his ninja weaponry pouches in the other. He dropped everything on the floor quickly and closed the door behind him, so no one else would enter.

Alice's mouth fell open at the sight of the nearly shirtless boy. She glanced at her older sister in surprise. "You had a boy over last night?"

Both of the elder girl's hands flew up to cover her face in embarrassment and defeat. She was never going to allow her little sister to watch PG-13 movies ever again; they made her way too knowledgeable about these types of things.

"It's not… what it looks like," Adrianna attempted to say.

"Oh yeah? Did you seriously let him in our house? And then you let him into our shower? You are so dead, Anna. Mom and Dad are going to have heart attacks. And then they're going to kill you. And then they're going to ground you for life. And then they're going to kill you again."

Alicia turned around quickly to run out of the room and tattletale, but Kiba quickly grabbed her shoulders to hold her in place. "Hey, uh… Adrianna's sister… I-"

"It's Alicia," the ten-year-old interrupted.

"Uh, okay… Alicia… listen to me… ah…" Kiba came at a loss for words, and his normally fierce eyes glanced up to the other teen, anxiety filling his dark orbs. "Your… Your sister has something to tell you…"

Adrianna turned her brown eyes onto the boy, glaring at him. But her younger sister was staring at her expectantly, so she knew she had to say something. "Do you… Do you remember those… books that I read and study that Mom and Dad don't know about?"

"Sure, those weirdo things you have me sneak from the mail for you," Alice nodded.

"Well… this is Kiba Inuzuka. He is… one of those people from those… studies," Adrianna said, praying that her younger sister didn't use the words 'manga' or 'Naruto'.

Alice furrowed her eyebrows. "You're such a liar!"

Kiba was about to explain his side of the story, when Adrianna cut him off. "Alice! Uh… come out into the hallway with me, so things are less awkward with Kiba staring at us."

The boy grimaced at the insult, but he settled with waiting in the girl's bedroom while the two sisters discussed the matter further.

Just as the two girls were about to leave the room, Adrianna stopped. "Oh, and please don't listen in on us. There's going to be a lot of difficult negotiation that no one should no about. My sister can be very… scamming, let's just say."

Kiba's eyebrow quirked as he crossed his arms, but he nodded his head. "You have my word, as a ninja."

Alicia scoffed, but she followed her sister into the hallway, and Cookie ran out of the room, dashing downstairs to be as far away from the larger dog as possible. The seventeen-year-old closed the door behind her. "Okay, listen. That guy in there really is a character from my Naruto manga."

The fifth grader started laughing. "What kind of a story is that, Anna?"

"The truth," the older girl replied. "C'mon, I've told you about _Naruto,_ and you've seen pictures of the characters. The one in my room just so happens to be the real Kiba Inuzuka. The one that I… you know… like."

"Well… I guess I thought he looked familiar," Alicia shrugged. "But when you say like, do you mean like like, or just like?"

"Like like," Adrianna whispered. "Now, will you believe me?"

"Depends," the younger girl replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "How much are you willing to offer to prove that that guy in your bedroom is the guy from your books?"

"How much do you want?" the high school junior asked suspiciously.

"Well, this is including the fact that I will have to keep the secret from Mommy and Daddy too," Alice added.

Adrianna bit her lip in thought. "How about… How about I give you my entire candy stash?"

"Ah… how much of it is left?" Alice asked warily, narrowing her eyes in skepticism.

"Well, after you took your three pieces from last night, Kiba had a couple… and then there's the rest of the bag," Anna informed, hoping that it would be enough.

The fifth grader had to remember back to the previous night when she had glanced into the bag. That was quite the hoard of candy. "Okay, deal. He's your crush from your manga, and I don't tell our parents."

Adrianna let loose a breath that she didn't even realize she had been holding. Thank goodness there was something that made her younger sister somewhat like a normal ten-year-old. Candy was a child's preferred payment, and thank goodness the teen had stockpiled.

"Thank you, Alicia," the adolescent smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, just give me my candy," the little girl said.

Adrianna rolled her eyes but nonetheless led her sister back into the bedroom. Kiba was lying sideways on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He lifted his head when he heard the door open. "So how'd it go?" Kiba asked nervously as he picked himself up into a sitting position.

"Good," the older girl said as she reached into her drawer and pulled out the huge plastic bag of sweets. The younger girl greedily snatched the bag and immediately began unwrapping a Hershey's chocolate bar.

Kiba grinned at the sight. "Yeah, I can tell."

The teen female sighed as she grabbed a spare change of clothes. "I'm going to take a long shower." She turned to give the two people sitting on her bed ferocious stares. "Do not touch my stuff, either of you." Then she noticed Akamaru staring up at her expectantly, and she pointed to him. "Make sure they behave." The white dog nodded happily.

Adrianna closed her bedroom door and headed into the bathroom. After locking the door, she discarded her clothes and hopped into the shower. She let the hot water warm her bones and wash away the building tension in her muscles. Her head leaned against the tiled wall, her mind reeling in thought.

"Does life seriously enjoy torturing me so much?"

* * *

After a twenty-minute shower, Adrianna stepped out, wrapping herself in a fluffy towel. She quickly dried herself off and put on her clothes. Since she was going out in public, she would have to wear something presentable. She put on her favorite pair of jeans and then put on a black camisole. Then she put on a red long-sleeved sweater that had one button that connected a few inches above her navel.

Once she was fully dressed, she glanced at herself in the mirror. Her wet hair hung in loose wet ringlets down past her shoulder blades. She slightly frowned; unfortunately, her hair wouldn't stay that nice for long. She decided to pull her raven-colored hair into a ponytail. She placed her glasses back on her face and headed back to her bedroom.

The teenager slowly opened her door, and she could hear her guest and sister talking with one another. There was laughing as well. Confused, Adrianna threw the door open all the way just in time to hear her sister's last sentence.

"…and when her hair is dry, it looks like a crazy bush!" Alice exclaimed through fits of laughter.

Kiba was also having a hard time breathing, as he was on his back laughing loudly. "Haha!" He glanced up to see Adrianna standing in the doorway, blushing madly as the fact that the two had been talking about her registered in her head. "Hey, Adrianna, do you think I could see your hair when it's dry? So I can see it when it's all bushy and whatnot!" He burst back into laughter as he finished his sentence.

Adrianna inwardly growled. She stomped over to her closet, pulling out her black boots. She slipped her shoes on, not saying a word to either of the other two.

"Aw, come on, Anna, it was just a joke," Kiba said, flashing a kind smile her way.

Her heart slightly melted, but Adriana mustered enough control to send a fierce stare his way. Alice slightly flinched as she sat beside the ninja. "Yikes, that's the Anna Glare. You don't wanna mess with her when that look is there, she'll tear you apart," the young girl said.

"Oh really?" Kiba asked, giving a challenging smirk. "Bring it on then."

The teen girl was always unaware when she was giving the 'Anna Glare', but apparently, it worked when it came to intimidation. Only when people pointed out the dangerous expression on her face was she conscious of it, and the appearance would immediately change.

"Whatever," Adrianna said, shaking her head. "We need to go to the mall soon, so you and Akamaru can meet me outside and we'll-"

"Wait! You guys are going to the mall?" Alicia interrupted eagerly. She immediately brushed aside the candy wrappings and looked at her sister with expectant brown eyes.

"Yeah, Kiba needs some new clothes," the teen replied.

"Can I come?" Alice pleaded, clasping her two hands together.

"Sure," Kiba shrugged.

"No," Anna said.

"Why not?" the little girl whined.

"Yeah, what's wrong with her tagging along?" Kiba asked.

"You'll just be a burden," Adrianna said as she stared at her sister. She placed her hands on her hips, trying to seem more superior.

Alice glared at the older girl. "I'll tell Mom and Dad about Kiba."

The boy with tan skin turned to look back at the elder girl, his eyes wide. Adrianna slumped noticeably, her resolve defeated immediately. "You evil blackmailer… Fine, you can come."

"Yay! Just wait while I go change!"

Alice quickly darted out of the room and into her own, rapidly changing out of her sweats and into more presentable clothes. She came back within seconds, wearing a blue T-shirt with a white sweat jacket and blue jeans. Her hair was in a messy braid, and her glasses were slightly askew from the rapid change of clothes. She was hopping up and down as she tried to tie her sneakers while moving.

Adrianna rolled her eyes. "Anyways, Kiba, you and Akamaru should go out Alice's bedroom window, since it goes into the backyard. There's less of a chance of someone seeing you, especially since we have a fenced yard. You can meet us in the driveway; just make sure my parents don't see you."

"Duh," Kiba smirked.

He quickly ran into Alice's bedroom and exited through the window, Akamaru close on his heels. Adrianna closed the window behind him, and the two sisters proceeded downstairs. The pair walked into the kitchen to see their parents relaxing at the kitchen table. Their father was watching the news while their mother was reading the newspaper.

"Good morning, Mom. Good morning, Dad," the girls greeted their parents. Adrianna rushed to the fridge and pulled out three bagels and some butter, and she proceeded to spread the butter on each bagel with a knife. Alice grabbed a water bottle to bring for the ride.

Sam furrowed his eyebrows as he noticed his daughters running about the kitchen. "What are you girls doing?"

"And why are you all dressed? Where are you going?" Jade asked in surprise.

"We're going to the mall. We're having breakfast to go," Adrianna said, not looking up from her work on the breakfast food.

"Wait… you're taking your sister to the mall?" their mother asked, shock evident in her tone.

"Yeah… I figured we needed some… sisterly bonding," Anna said, a smile appearing on her face.

"Why do you have three bagels?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"One is for just in case we get hungry later," Alicia said simply. She was a much better liar than her older sister.

"Alright, I guess that's fine," their father shrugged slightly. "But don't spend too much money on useless stuff."

"Yeah, alright," Adrianna secretly rolled her eyes. She grabbed her keys and her purse and quickly kissed her parents goodbye, Alice doing the same.

"Be good, Alice," Jade called after her younger daughter.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the little girl dismissed.

The two girls ran out of the house after Adrianna made sure she had enough money in her bag. The teenager was secretly happy that there was not more of a conflict involving their departure. She had just wanted to leave as soon as possible before her parents got suspicious or annoyed her about something. They headed towards the teen's red Subaru, and Kiba and Akamaru emerged from behind Jade's minivan.

"So, how are we getting there?" Kiba asked curiously.

Adrianna's eyebrows creased as she stared at him with a disbelieving look. "I'm… driving us there."

She pointed to the red car parked by the sidewalk, and the boy stared at it for a few moments before his eyes widened. "Oh no. There is no way you are getting me into that metal monster," Kiba said, shaking his head the entire time he spoke.

Both girls gawked at Kiba's statement. "I thought you were supposed to be a ninja! What could you possibly be afraid? It's not like you've seen my sister drive yet; that's when you have to be worried."

Adrianna clamped her hand over her troublesome sister's mouth. "Aha… she's just joking. My driving is perfectly fine."

Kiba continued to shake his head. "Nope, I'm still not getting into that thing. I've never seen one before, I don't know what it's like, and now thanks to Alice, I'm afraid of your driving!"

A light bulb went off in the teenage girl's head, and she smiled. "Fine, be that way… Chicken…" she whispered the last word, low enough to sound like a secret but loud enough for him to still hear her.

The shinobi's muscles visibly relaxed from their tensed and nervous state. He turned to glare at the girl who had found him just the previous night. "What'd you call me?"

"Oh, nothing… Chicken," she muttered the last word a second time.

Dangerous eyes glared at the high school girl, and she only smiled back. She pressed the 'Unlock' button on her car's remote, and a loud beep sounded, alerting that the car was now open. The sudden sound made Kiba jump slightly and Akamaru tense.

"So, are you getting in or what?" Adrianna asked expectantly.

The chuunin looked at his new friends with uncertain eyes as he slowly reached over to open the door. He pulled the handle, and the passenger side door opened. Kiba cautiously stepped in and sat down in the seat. Adrianna closed the door, and he tensed up again, feeling trapped and confined inside the Subaru Forester.

Alicia opened the door to the back seat, and Akamaru hopped in to sit beside the ten-year-old. Anna hopped in the driver's seat, and the two sisters strapped their seatbelts on. The driver stuck the key into the ignition. The engine roared to life, and Kiba inhaled sharply in nervousness.

The teen glanced at the anxious guy beside her. "Kiba…breathe, for goodness sake."

The boy took in a deep breath and glanced over at her. "What?"

"Now put your seatbelt on. Akamaru doesn't really need one, as he is a dog. But you need to because it's the law. Plus, I'm afraid you might try and jump out of the car while it's moving," Adrianna said.

"Uh… right…" Kiba pulled his own seatbelt down after looking at how Adrianna's own belt strapped diagonally across her chest.

Once everyone was safely strapped in, the girl changed driving gears and hit the gas. She mentally prepared herself for the outbursts that she was sure would come from the ninja sitting beside her.

* * *

The drive to the mall hadn't been as bad as Adrianna had thought it would be.

It was worse.

After the terror that Kiba had shown when it came to just getting into the car, Adrianna honestly expected him to be screaming shouts of horror and fear. She had been afraid of driving the speed limit, for fear of him exclaiming how she would be going too fast.

However, she had assumed wrong.

After only five minutes, Kiba had loosened up, and he actually seemed to be enjoying the car ride. Too much, in fact. He was leaning over to look out the window and accidentally hit the window button. He could feel the cold wind in his face, and when he realized that the car was moving at a faster speed than he could run, he pushed the window down all the way. The ninja relished in the familiar feeling of the wind on his face.

The Sun sisters, however, were freezing with the November wind blowing into the car. Even when they yelled at the chuunin to close the window, he just ignored them. Adrianna had been forced to press the window button on her side that cancelled the usage of windows. Kiba had whined like crazy when he realized that he couldn't put the window back down because of what she had done. Then he started pouting and giving her the puppy-dog eyes, and she had to yell at him for distracting her while she was driving.

Once the windows were up again, Alice was comfortable once more, and she laughed at the two teens bickering in the front seats. Akamaru just cocked his head to the side back and forth, wondering why they were arguing.

They finally arrived at the Richardson Town Mall, and Adrianna pulled into a spot in the parking lot. The humans emerged from the car, and Akamaru was about to jump out when the teen female was forced to stop him.

"Uh… see, the thing is… dogs aren't allowed inside the mall… or a lot of buildings, for that matter," Adrianna said, slightly scratching the back of her neck in nervousness.

The boy from the manga stared at his fellow teenager for five whole seconds before his eyes widened in disbelief and astonishment. "What? What kind of world is this? Where I'm from, people allow ninja hounds to come inside… well, except for restaurants, which I still don't understand, but still!"

"It's the rules, Kiba! Just… leave him in the car or something!" Anna exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Wait, I'll use a Transformation Jutsu, that'll do it," Kiba grinned. He put his hand in a seal, but Adrianna smacked him in the shoulder.

"We're in public! No chakra usage except in a private place," the teen hissed.

"Aw, but I want to see some ninja stuff," Alicia whined.

Adrianna face-palmed. "Just… leave Akamaru in the car, and we will be done soon. I'll leave the windows down for him so he can have some air, alright?"

"I don't know…" Kiba said uncertainly.

Alice shook her head in annoyance at the ninja. "Akamaru's a ninja dog! He could totally beat up anyone who came near him anyway!"

Kiba shrugged a bit in hesitant agreement. "Yeah… I guess you're right…" He still felt very indecisive about separating from his hound, but he knew there was no other choice.

Adrianna lowered the windows of the car for Akamaru to breathe in the freezing air, and with that, the group of three headed toward the massive building.

The ninja's eyes widened as they approached the mall. _"This is where people here shop? It's bigger than the Hokage's Tower…"_

The three entered the building, and Kiba's eyes widened. From what he could see, stores were spread out through the entire domain. There were three floors to the mall, each constructed with over a dozen stores built in. Stairs and escalators crossed all over the place, and people were swamping the entire building. Vendors were scattered across the floors here and there, trying to sell makeup, snacks, and information for different types of events.

Kiba gawked. "There are more stores in here than in Konoha…"

Alicia grabbed his wrist and tugged him along. "C'mon, Kiba! We have clothes for you to try on!"

The normally tan face of Kiba Inuzuka visibly paled. With so many stores, it was going to be a long day of shopping. He frowned, and his head slumped in sadness.

* * *

"How about this?"

"No."

"How about this?"

"No."

"How about this?"

"Uh… No."

"Alicia!"

"What?" the ten-year-old asked, sticking her head out from between the multiple clothing racks in the men's section at Macy's.

"Would you just let me pick something for him?" Adrianna asked as she lifted her head up to look at her annoying little sister. "You've been picking up clothes for half an hour, and Kiba has said no to all of them."

"Well, sheesh, if he wasn't so picky, we wouldn't have this problem, now would we?" Alice replied smartly.

"Ugh!" Adrianna groaned.

She leaned backwards so that she was lying on the large navy blue round cushioned chair that sat in the middle of the section. Kiba was sitting beside her; his hands were behind him, and he leaned back on them for support. He was trying to be a little more polite to the little ten-year-old, as she was only trying to help him. But he couldn't deny that he really just wanted to pass out at that moment due to the immense boredom.

Both teens knew that Alicia had the best of intentions when it came to helping. However, there was a noticeable fact that always irked her older sister. She just needed to be involved in everything. Whatever the subject may be, Alice always found a way to butt in, making her pretty much unavoidable and slightly annoying.

"Alice, why are you only pulling out clothes that are the color blue?" Kiba asked curiously, trying to keep the irritation out of his tone.

Blue-colored garments were the only thing that Alicia had been holding up, and he had declined each one of them. Some of the unsatisfactory clothing was because he simply didn't like the style; the rest was because the blue color was too obnoxious.

"Because blue is the most awesome color ever!" the fifth grader exclaimed in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Why can't you be like every other girl in your class and just like pink?" Adrianna asked in irritation. Kiba's eyes widened, as he thought his fellow teen meant that she wanted her younger sister to pick something pink for him to wear.

"Because pink is for girlie-girls, and that's stupid," Alice said simply, turning back to the racks to pick some more blue-colored shirts.

Adrianna shook her head. Girlie-girls in fifth grade… There were already set cliques and categories for students who hadn't even entered middle school. Not to mention the drama that existed because of these groupings. Truly, what was the world coming to?

Kiba sighed as he ruffled his spiky brown hair. He glanced over at the girl next to him; she had one arm thrown over her eyes and the other across her stomach. The ninja nudged her foot with his own, waking her up from her thoughts.

"What exactly would you have picked out for me?" Kiba asked once he had Adrianna's attention.

Anna lifted herself into a sitting position and glanced around the men's section. Her deep brown eyes scoured the various clothing racks until they finally settled on a particular corner of the section of the store.

"Probably something over there," she said as she gestured to one side of the store.

He stood up and walked over to the designated section and started filing through the different racks. Alice, meanwhile, had pulled out a baby blue hooded jacket.

"How about… Where'd he go?" the young girl asked.

"He went to go pick out something more suitable than what you've been choosing," Adrianna said. She pointed to the jacket in her sister's hands and furrowed her eyebrows. "Why a baby blue jacket?"

Alice just shrugged. Adrianna shook her head in disbelief. Why there was a baby blue hooded jacket in the men's section was beyond her.

"Okay, I'm done," Kiba said, coming back with a pile of clothes.

Adrianna and Alicia looked through the different articles of clothing, and the elder girl frowned. "There's only enough for three outfits."

"What's your point?" Kiba asked, confused.

"You can't get by on three outfits in this world. I'm paying for everything, you might as well buy some more," Adrianna explained.

"Well, if you're paying for my stuff, then I don't want to have to trouble you with a huge payment," the chuunin said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Adrianna's eyes widened slightly at the glimpse of care he was showing her. For once, she didn't blush, but she felt her heart flutter. "Uh… you don't… you don't have to worry about the money issue, it's fine. I work for my own money, so it's not like I have to pay my parents back or anything."

"That just makes it even worse!" Kiba shouted. "C'mon, I can totally get by with three outfits."

The teen bit her lip in thought, but then she shook her head. "If you are so intent on this money issue, you can pay me back some other time, in some other way if necessary. For now, go pick more clothes… and some underwear for that matter, seeing as how you forgot."

Kiba blushed at the final bit of her last statement. "Eh… right…" He walked off to search for more clothes. Adrianna watched him go, and a small smile spread on her face.

Meanwhile, Alicia was standing right there, shaking her head in confused wonder. _"What is wrong with teenagers?"_

* * *

After another hour of shopping, the trio exited the Macy's portion of the store. Each was carrying bags of clothes, all for the newcomer. "Okay, I guess that's it," Adrianna smiled.

"Thank goodness," the male mumbled.

Suddenly, his eyes caught sight of something interesting, and he stopped in the middle of walking. The girls hadn't even noticed he was no longer with them until they were a few steps away.

"Kiba? What are you staring at?" Alice called back.

"Dairy Queen," Kiba said simply as he read the name of the shop in bright neon letters.

The two girls hauled the shopping bags back over to the mesmerized boy to stand beside him. Adrianna looked at the small diner-like place and turned to look at the ninja beside her; he was in a trance as he stared at the name of the shop.

"What's Dairy Queen?" the ninja asked.

"It's a fast food restaurant, but they're mostly known for their desserts. Most of it is ice cream," Adrianna answered.

"Great ice cream, you mean," Alice reminded.

Her older sister laughed. "Haha, yeah, they do have pretty good ice cream here."

"What's ice cream?" Kiba asked.

Alice suddenly blanched. "You don't know what ice cream is?" she screamed, catching the attention of a bunch of other bystanders. The other shoppers merely glanced at her with slight irritation and confusion but continued on with their own business.

"No, we don't have ice cream where I'm from," the chuunin said, turning his dark eyes to stare back at the colorful ice cream joint.

"Ice cream is the greatest dessert ever! Speaking of which, I'm pretty hungry right now, so…" Alice said, slowly glancing at her older sister, who was on the other side of the fictional character.

"No, I am not buying ice cream," Adrianna said instantly. "It's the end of November with a 40 degree chill outside. No, no ice cream."

"C'mon, please!" Alice begged, clasping both hands together and pouting her bottom lip out.

"Yeah, c'mon, please?" Kiba asked, giving an even cuter puppy-dog pout than Alice could ever hope to muster. His normally feral eyes eased considerably, and his beastly features transitioned into one of the cutest pairs of puppy eyes that Adrianna had ever seen.

The adolescent girl had to turn away from the ninja to keep herself from turning into a bright red tomato. Her hand reached up to gently fiddle with her ponytail. She dared herself to look at him from the corner of her eyes, and she saw that he had not even moved one inch out of his puppy pout.

She sighed. "Fine…"

"Yes!" Kiba and Alice exclaimed in triumph. The pair ran inside the Dairy Queen, leaving Adrianna to stare at their retreating forms. She shook her head slightly as a smile appeared across her lips.

The three stood in line, awaiting their turns. When the cashier finally called them forward, Alice was the first to give her order.

"I'd like an M&Ms Blizzard, please!" Alice said excitedly

Adrianna rolled her eyes at her sister but then proceeded to give her own order. "I'll have a Triple Chocoholic Blizzard."

Kiba fingered his chin in contemplation. He stared up at the bright menu, trying to decide what he should get. But he had no idea what any of the words meant. The cashier was staring at him expectantly, a hint of annoyance lining his features as he waited for Kiba to make his order.

"Ah… I'll just have what she's having," he said as he gestured toward Adrianna.

The raven-haired girl smiled, and the cashier nodded. Within moments, the treats were served, and Adrianna paid the designated price.

The trio walked out of the Dairy Queen, each trying to balance holding the cups of ice cream while struggling with the many bags of clothes. The ten-year-old was shoveling the delicious treat into her mouth, savoring the vanilla cream and chocolate candies. The junior took a few small bites of hers, wincing as the cold chocolate burned down her throat. But she couldn't deny that she loved the chocolaty taste of the treat.

Kiba stared at it for a few moments, debating whether he truly wanted to try it or not. Alicia rolled her eyes. "If you don't eat it, I will," she offered.

"I'm just… slightly worried, actually," Kiba said. "It is good, right?"

Both girls rolled their eyes. "If it wasn't good, would I have bought the same thing?" the teenager asked, her black hair swaying behind her as she walked.

The shinobi shrugged, hearing the truth in her words. He lifted the spoon, scooping up a bit of the chocolate ice cream into the plastic utensil, and placed it in his mouth. He let his tongue adapt to the strange new dessert.

And then he smiled.

"This is really good!" Kiba exclaimed excitedly as he shoveled more the chocolaty cream into his mouth.

Adrianna smiled at his excitement. Despite the fact that he was her age, she could see how much he acted like a little kid at the moment. While eating his ice cream, he resembled a little five-year-old getting to taste a wonderful treat for the first time ever.

The trio arrived back at the car, and they jumped in to finish their creamy desserts. Akamaru, seated beside Alicia, sniffed it eagerly, tilting his head in confusion at the strange new snack. His master let him lick some directly out of the cup, and Akamaru barked happily at the wonderful taste.

Kiba went back to scooping more into his mouth excitedly, and Alice grimaced at how he still ate the treat, even after the dog's tongue had contaminated it.

Adrianna laughed at the ninja's continuous eagerness with eating the ice cream. "You should probably slow down, though. You might get a-"

"HOLY, MOTHER, WHAT THE, AAHH!" Kiba screamed, his mouth hanging open in a scream. He clutched his head roughly, clawing at his hair and scratching at his scalp in pain. His dangerous eyes flashed as he looked at the girl beside him in the driver's seat. "What the hell is this? Are you trying to kill me or something?"

At first, the Sun sisters had tried to keep themselves from laughing at the expense of their new friend. But when his tone of voice sounded serious and threatening, they both frowned simultaneously.

"Kiba, please calm down. It's just brain freeze!" the seventeen-year-old screamed over his cries of pain.

"What the hell is brain freeze?" Kiba yelled.

"You ate the ice cream too fast. It's basically when too much cold covers the roof of your mouth, and now you have a headache," Adrianna tried to explain. "Just take deep breaths, you'll be alright."

After a few moments of moaning, Kiba shook his head to rid himself of any remaining discomfort. He breathed deeply, and his dark eyes glowered at Adrianna from the corner of their sockets. "You could have warned me, you know. What kind of friend are you?"

The girl gawked at the genuine angry tone he was using. Then she glared at how he was being so insensitive about something as insignificant as a brain freeze. "I was just about to, but you were too busy shoveling chocolate in your mouth," she huffed, just as angry now.

In the back seat, Akamaru whimpered at the tension growing in the front seat of the car. Alicia perked an eyebrow, surprised at the sudden tense atmosphere.

Kiba eyed the girl beside him out of the corner of his eye, and he could see the Anna Glare staring out of the windshield of the car. The ninja could practically smell the anger rolling off of her. Yet, she wasn't directing it at him; she just stared off into space, obviously waiting for herself to calm down. The Inuzuka silently wondered if she was trying to calm herself down so that she could apologize; that was the vibe he was picking up as he slowly noticed her glower relax as she took deep breaths. He frowned faintly, and his fierce eyes slowly softened.

He was surprised at how she had not countered his harsh words with some insensitive words of her own. Even with his friends, he was used to snarky comments being thrown back and forth, but it was always in good fun. No matter how big or small the argument, his temper ended up creating a long war of words with his comrades. It always worked out in the end though…

The chuunin's heart clutched at the idea of how he might have genuinely hurt her feelings.

"Aahh…" he groaned as he looked out the window on his side. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for the blow to his alpha pride. "I don't normally do this… But I'm sorry for snapping at you…"

Adrianna's eyes widened. She was surprised to hear him apologize; she had just been about to do that herself. Not to mention the fact that it was an insignificant argument in the first place; the teen was sure that the ninja didn't apologize even in larger disagreements.

Her brown eyes turned to look at him, and she saw the sincere look on his face. "Why are you sorry?"

"Well, it was just a brain freeze. I guess I was just surprised, really," the boy shrugged. His small reassuring smile evolved into a big grin. "Besides, the ice cream was totally worth the headache."

Adrianna laughed, and the other teenager joined in. In the backseat, Alice rolled her eyes. "Would you just drive already, Anna?"

"Whatever, Alice," the older sister shot back, still smiling.

She started the ignition and pulled out of the spot. After a few turns out of the parking lot, the red Forester pulled into the sea of traffic. Luckily, Kiba was too occupied with finishing his ice cream to care about opening the window.

Adrianna's smile fell as she frowned; new thoughts entered her mind, all pertaining to the entire situation with Kiba dropping into her world.

"We need to find you a place to stay," the girl sighed. "I can get you food. I can cook a little, and there's always leftovers if worse comes to worse. But I don't have a place for you to stay without my parents finding out." She tilted her head to the side as a sudden question struck her. "Actually, where did you sleep last night?"

"Wait," Alice interrupted, lifting her head up from her ice cream, "you mean he didn't sleep in our house? I thought you actually let him in your bed."

Adrianna almost swerved off the road in pure astonishment at her sister's statement. "Alicia! What the heck is wrong with you?"

"Well, I didn't mean it like that," the little girl exclaimed in defense. "I just meant let him sleep in the bed, seeing as how you don't have a couch or anything in your room."

"Wait, does she even know what…" Kiba glanced nervously at the girl in the backseat before he continued, "S-E-X is?"

"I can spell," the elementary school girl glared. "And yes, I know what it is."

Yup, Adrianna was never letting her sister watch PG-13 movies EVER again.

Kiba turned away, blushing at how awkward the conversation was getting. Adrianna took in a deep breath before she spoke again. "Anyway, where did you sleep last night?"

"In that tree house in your backyard," he replied quietly, still a little embarrassed after the comments made by the ten-year-old.

Adrianna tilted her head in surprise. "Really?"

That tree house had been there since Adrianna was five, and she and her sister had often played in there during their younger days. But as they grew older, the wooden house became neglected, and it looked a bit run down compared to its glory days.

"Was it safe? Were you warm?" the teen asked worriedly, concern lacing her voice.

"It's a little shaky, admittedly," Kiba shrugged. "But it was enough to hold Akamaru and me up. From the looks of it, it should be fine. Just a blanket and a pillow, and I'll be good to go."

"Wait, what?" Adrianna asked in surprise. "You're not seriously considering staying there, are you? It's just going to get colder, and who knows how many more days that tree house has left in it."

"You make it sound like it's so bad," Kiba laughed. "Trust me; I've been through so much worse. Ninja, remember?"

"But… I don't like the idea of you sleeping in a tree house," Adrianna said.

"If it bothers you so much, we can redecorate it or something," the boy shrugged nonchalantly.

"But…"

"It's fine, Anna," Kiba said firmly. "I don't need you to go rent a room or something. Even keeping me in your house for a few minutes is obviously a hazard all on its own. And… if I'm here longer than we thought, I'll get a room myself. You're already doing more than enough by even bothering to help me out."

Adrianna frowned. "I'm helping you because you also threatened me… twice, in fact."

That statement made Kiba frown as well. "Fair enough. Sorry about that, by the way."

That made the girl smile. "Oh my goodness, did I just get Kiba Inuzuka to apologize twice within ten minutes? Incredible!"

"Yeah… don't get used to it," Kiba growled, though the grin on his face told Adrianna that the tense atmosphere was long behind them now.

Alicia smiled at the two teens from her seat in the back. She was busy playing with the large white beast beside her, so she didn't feel left out. Akamaru was just as friendly, licking her all over and letting her pat his large head.

The ten-year-old smirked to herself as she remembered how her older sister had said that she liked Kiba. The sudden idea of playing matchmaker made Alicia grin to herself.


	5. Sunday Morning

**Wow, I've gotten such nice reviews for this story. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside :) Thanks a bunch for the support everyone! I'm so sorry I haven't replied to any, life seriously gets in the way. Well anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter!**

**Sunday Morning by Maroon 5**

* * *

_Buzz… Buzz… Buzz…_

A muffled groan emerged from under the comfortable confines of the bed sheets as the vibrating noise aroused the teen from her slumber. She threw the blankets off and dazedly glanced at her clock. It read 7:14 in the morning, exactly sixteen minutes before she needed to get up.

"Why?" Adrianna moaned in despair as she pulled the covers up to shroud herself in warmth once again.

She was just about to close her eyes and welcome the world of sleep to her once again for as long as she could before she realized that her cell phone was the reason she had woken up in the first place. The girl quickly threw the blankets off her body again and rubbed the sleep from her eyes while she grabbed her glasses from her nightstand. Blinking the blurriness from her vision, she grabbed her red-colored cell phone off the table and opened the screen. The words, 1 Message Received, were in big bold letters across her screen. Adrianna opened the unread text message to find that it was a note from her friend, Robert.

**Check your email.**

Trying to focus on the meaning of the message, Anna absentmindedly scratched the back of her head and rubbed her temples to adjust to being awake. Finally, the teenager realized just what Robert meant from his text, and she quickly jumped out of bed to turn her laptop on.

After only a few moments, her email was displayed across her computer screen. Adrianna briefly glanced through her inbox and found what she wanted. She clicked the designated message and began to read through what her friend had sent her.

**Here are the forms you wanted. You owe me big time. I'll be expecting payment sometime this week.**

Adrianna rolled her eyes. By payment, he probably just meant a decently packed lunch.

Continuing through the email, Anna looked to see that there were a few attachments fastened to the message. After browsing through the forms, she realized that they were all the requirements she needed to get Kiba into her school. There was a report card, a résumé , even some other documents that explained where Kiba used to live, where he currently lived – apparently, both in fake addresses, Adrianna noted – his grades, and pretty much everything a school would need to know about a new student.

The teen speedily sent a quick thank you to her friend before turning off her computer. She sent silent prayers of gratitude to whatever higher force there was that she had an amazing technological genius as a friend. Robert was an expert with computers; he could fix them, he could make new software, he could program almost anything, and apparently, he could also make false documents. What he was still doing in high school, Adrianna didn't know, but she sure as heck was glad that he was around to help in situations such as this.

After standing up and stretching, the raven-haired teenager went to getting dressed for her part-time job. She reluctantly took off her warm sweatshirt and flannel pants and quickly donned her red lifeguard T-shirt and gray shorts. Once she was done with her lifeguarding wardrobe, she threw some black sweatpants and a comfy hooded jacket on top of her uniform. Then she went to fixing her mess of hair. Grimacing at the Medusa-like hairstyle that she woke up with, Adrianna decided on a simple braid to keep her hair tame for the time being.

Once she was fully fresh and ready for the day, she grabbed her bag and ran downstairs to fix herself some breakfast. She was about to throw two pieces of bread into the toaster when she remembered that there was a boy currently residing in her old tree house. Wondering if he was still even there at this time in the morning, Adrianna added two extra pieces of bread to the toaster.

Sighing to herself, Anna leaned against the counter as she waited for the toast to finish. She began losing herself in her thoughts, building up a mini schedule and checklist for herself so she could manage Kiba's life while he stayed in this world.

_"I have to print out those forms Robert sent me… I should probably get at least some things organized for him when he gets to school… Then there's the matter of-"_

A sudden knock made Adrianna nearly jump out of her skin. It was way too early for visitors, which made her skeptical about who could be dropping by. She furrowed her eyebrows as she glanced at the front door, and when she didn't see anyone standing at the front porch, her mind immediately went into overload mode.

A second knock sounded, which made the poor girl begin to panic. Then something finally clicked in her mind, and she cursed herself for her stupidity. Following her instinct, she went to the back door, and sure enough, Kiba and Akamaru were waiting there.

The girl unlocked the glass sliding door that led into the backyard and allowed her guests into the family room. "Yeesh, Anna. You looked like you were expecting someone else," Kiba commented as he walked inside and plopped himself down at the kitchen table.

Adrianna rolled her eyes at his remark as she idly patted Akamaru on the head. "Sorry, I guess I just haven't adjusted to having a random stranger pop up in my life all the time. And plus, you're lucky my parents are still sleeping. You need to watch yourself when you just suddenly appear out of nowhere."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" the ninja waved off dismissively. "So what's for breakfast?" The glasses-wearing teen shot him a deadly look out of the corner of her eyes, thereby initiating the Anna Glare. Kiba cocked an eyebrow in response to her glower. "I've seen scarier things, Anna. Your signature glare is really not going to work on me."

Rather than relenting in her vicious stare, Adrianna subconsciously deepened it by turning to look at the chuunin dead on. It barely affected him at all, and it was then that Adrianna Sun realized that she had met her match.

Anna simply rolled her eyes as she placed a plate of buttered toast in front of her shinobi guest. "It's not even worth it…" she muttered.

"Oh, but I am so worth it," Kiba grinned as he took a huge chomp out of his breakfast.

The brown-eyed girl raised an eyebrow at him challengingly. He may have been her anime crush, but he was at least still a friend. And messing with her friends was always a favorite pastime of hers.

"Hmm… I'll have to remember that tomorrow morning," Adrianna said as she began eating her own piece of toast. The Inuzuka looked up at in confusion, a question written clearly across his facial features. "When I make you breakfast, I mean," she elaborated.

"Ah," he said as he finished eating his second piece of toasted bread.

Anna smirked in victory as she continued. "Because I think you deserve a special breakfast tomorrow, since it is your first day of high school and all."

Kiba had just been about to shove the last bit of his meal into his mouth when he suddenly registered his friend's words. The bread slipped from his fingers and landed on the floor, only to be lapped up by Akamaru's waiting tongue.

"You mean I'm starting school already?" Kiba yelled in shock.

"Yup," the girl smiled innocently as she retrieved the box of milk bones from one of the cabinets. "My friend just finished your paperwork. You're ready to start school tomorrow."

"B-But," he stuttered out in despair, "I-I haven't even tasted freedom of this place yet…"

"Oh, there'll be plenty of time for that," Adrianna said with a wave of her hand. She held out one of the large dog treats to the large white-furred canine seated by the kitchen table. Akamaru excitedly bounded over to her and snatched it from her generous hand. "You know… between homework and all…"

"You're actually going to make me do homework?" Kiba asked skeptically. "I don't even know anything about this place, what the hell makes you think I can do homework?"

"That's where paying attention in class comes in," the teenager informed, almost as if she was explaining this to a five-year-old. "Neither of us knows how long you'll be staying here, so you need to do something to keep yourself busy."

"This is ridiculous. You can't make me do homework. Hell, you can't even make me go to school!" Kiba shouted as he pointed an accusing finger at the girl.

Adrianna froze from her shuffling around the kitchen. She slowly turned around to stare at her guest, eying him dangerously. And for one extremely long moment, Kiba was sure that she was going to yell his ear off and bite his head off his body. Inwardly, he was challenging her to make her dangerous move. He wanted to see just how threatening she could be. He wanted to see how well she stood in an argument against him. The Inuzuka knew he was known amongst his friends for having a hot temper; it might not be a proud title, but he definitely knew he could get his point across in a yelling match.

However, Adrianna shocked him when she simply shrugged, as if his words meant nothing. "You're right. I can't make you go to school or do homework. I'm not your mom, and I don't intend on being your mother while you're here. I'm buying you clothes and cooking food for you simply because I'm naturally generous. And if you take advantage of all that, then fine by me."

Kiba narrowed his eyes at her as he stared at her suspiciously. Her words were rather genuine, and her tone almost seemed welcoming, as if she didn't actually care if he took advantage of her hospitality or not. He honestly couldn't tell if she was trying to trick him or if she was being truthful in her words.

His eyes slightly widened when he realized that her unpredictable reaction was similar to the previous day, when she had prepared herself to apologize for the brain freeze instead of continuing to argue with him. Kiba silently huffed to himself, wondering what exactly made this girl tick. Her unpredictability astounded him, and he wasn't sure if he precisely liked that too much or not.

Kiba sighed as he leaned back in his chair, hating the fact that this girl in front of him could make him feel guilty over school, of all things. He glanced back at her to see that she was standing at the sink, washing the breakfast dishes.

"So…" he started, "what's the game plan for today?"

"I have work for five hours today. You can come if you want," Adrianna said as she dried her hands on the dish rag. "I don't know what you could exactly do if you stayed here, but you're not obligated to come with me if you don't want."

"Where do you work?" the chuunin asked skeptically.

"At an indoor pool," she replied automatically. "It's actually a health and fitness center, but I work in the pool area. There is a gym for working out if you want."

"Hmm," the male hummed to himself. "What's a pool?"

Adrianna stared at him blankly for a whole ten seconds, in which nothing happened except for the two adolescents keeping each other's gaze. Then she face-palmed. It was seriously going to be a long time with him staying here if she had to explain what every little thing in her world was.

"A pool is a built-in body of water in which people can go swimming to exercise or to have fun," she responded, giving him the best explanatory response she could think of.

He cocked his head to the side as he stared at her quizzically. "Isn't that a waste of space though? Why not just go swim in a river or a lake?"

"Because a pool has chemicals in it to keep it clean," the girl answered.

"Chemicals? How the heck does that keep water clean?" Kiba exclaimed in genuine shock, a look of horror on his tattooed face.

Adrianna face-palmed for the second time in two minutes. "It… That's just…"

She wanted so badly to say the word 'science', because that was really the only word she could think of that would give a suitable answer. But the sad thing was that it wouldn't be a suitable answer for Kiba because then he'd ask what science had to do with it. Then she'd have to launch herself into an elaborate description of the periodic table of elements, which she really didn't have the time or patience for.

After contemplating her words very carefully, she finally replied, "That's just how it works here."

Kiba raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, obviously expecting more of an answer from her. But he let it slide as he stood up from his seat. "Well, I guess I'll tag along. I could go for a nice workout, so I guess I'll hit the gym. Maybe I'll go for a swim if I'm up for it."

Adrianna instantly furrowed her eyebrows at this. "Did we buy swim trunks for you yesterday?"

The ninja gave her a knowing look. "Alicia pretty much bought the entire mall for me, you just happened to pay for it all."

The raven-haired teen sighed in understanding. "That figures. Well in that case, go grab whatever you need. I'll meet you out on the front porch. I just have to say bye to my parents."

The boy nodded as he walked out the backdoor with his canine in tow. The girl rapidly ran up the stairs to bid her parents farewell until she returned in the afternoon. As she walked down the upstairs hall, she nearly bumped into her younger sister emerging from her room.

"Alice? What are you doing up?" Anna asked in confusion. "You're never awake this early."

"I had to pee…" the younger girl mumbled as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, I'm just saying goodbye to Mom and Dad," the elder sister said as she continued down the hall to the master bedroom.

She distantly heard the door to the bathroom close behind her as she entered her parents' room. The teen hesitantly glanced inside to see the adults cuddled under the thick warm blankets. She envied the fact that her parents got to sleep in on the weekends while she had to go to work to prepare the pool for the day.

"Hey, Mom, Dad," Adrianna whispered as she nudged her parents' shoulders. "I'm leaving."

"Hmm, have a good day, honey," Sam muttered through sleepy eyes.

"We'll see you later, sweetie," Jade added as she patted her daughter on the shoulder.

The Sun daughter nodded as she turned away and closed the bedroom door behind her. As she proceeded down the hallway, she almost bumped into her younger sister for the second time in five minutes. Adrianna reflexively kissed her sibling on the forehead in farewell as she made her way to the staircase.

"Hey, Anna?" Alice called out to her older sister.

The teenager instantly stopped at the call of her nickname, and she turned to see the ten-year-old looking up at her expectantly. "Are you taking Kiba to work with you?"

The eldest Sun daughter furrowed her eyebrows at the little girl. "Yeah…" she drawled out slowly. "Why?"

"I want to come too," Alice said automatically.

Adrianna narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm beginning to see a pattern here, Alicia," the teen said threateningly. "Why is it that you need to be involved in everything when it comes to Kiba?"

The fifth grader cocked an eyebrow at that. "He's a character from a manga you read. He's the most interesting thing to happen to us ever!"

"Us? Since when was there an us?" Adrianna asked accusingly.

"Since I found out and can blackmail you by telling Mom and Dad that you're hiding a boy from them on our property," the little girl shot back, crossing her arms over her chest in superiority.

The older sister's mouth fell open as she prepared herself for an argument, but instead, she simply sighed. "Go get dressed. You have two minutes."

Alicia instantly flashed a bright smile as she dashed into her bedroom. But just before she closed her wooden door, she stuck her head back out to look at her sister, her Cheshire cat grin still on her face. "Oh, and I want a big thermos of orange soda for breakfast."

"Orange soda?" Adrianna hissed. "It's eight o'clock in the morning; I can't give you orange soda for breakfast!"

The ten-year-old shrugged. "Okay, then I guess I'll just have to tell our parents about Kiba then."

The seventeen-year-old groaned in protest before she finally relented. "One orange soda, coming up," she mumbled before she finally walked away. Alicia smiled triumphantly before she closed her door to get dressed.

Adrianna stomped down the stairs and entered the kitchen to see Kiba and Akamaru already waiting for her at the table. The brown-haired boy looked up to meet her angry eyes, and he immediately tensed himself to see what was wrong.

"So… are we leaving then?" he asked anxiously.

"Not yet," the other teen growled. "We have to wait for Alice. She's coming along now too…"

Anna went to collecting a clean container and filling it with the orange fizzy beverage. Kiba eyed her skeptically before he realized, finally, the relationship between the two Sun sisters.

"Tell me, Anna," the Inuzuka began, making sure to have his friend's attention, "how long have you been bribing Alicia?"

"Truthfully?" the girl asked as she closed the lid to the thermos. The chuunin nodded his head once. "Ever since you got here."

Kiba's eyebrows instantly shot up, and his eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah," the junior replied quietly. She looked up at her anime crush with indifferent eyes. "Before… she never really held anything over me. Now I have to do anything she says, because I know she's the type of person who will tell our parents about you staying here."

The ninja looked at her sadly as he tried to fathom why a little girl would be willing to blackmail and take bribes from her sister in a serious situation such as Kiba's stay here. Sure, if they were enemies, then he would understand the evil treatment towards one another. But siblings were kin; they couldn't treat each other so harshly, could they? He knew he would never expect himself to be this harsh toward his own sister.

An image of the Uchiha brothers suddenly flashed in his mind, and he involuntarily shivered.

"Good morning, everyone!" Alicia's voice called out merrily as she happily skipped into the kitchen.

"Here's your orange soda," Adrianna mumbled as she shoved the cup into her sister's waiting hands. "I'm going to go warm the car up."

Kiba watched the other adolescent walk out the front door before he turned his feral dark eyes to look at the younger Sun sibling. "Do you enjoy torturing your sister so much?"

"Yup!" Alicia smiled immediately. "I only get to torment her a few times, since she's such a goody-two-shoes, so this is really fun."

The ninja smirked for a split second before he gained a serious expression on his face. "You know, Alice… You shouldn't be so mean to your sister."

The fifth grader instantly eyed the chuunin, giving him a suspicious and deadly look. "Did Anna tell you to say this to me?"

The dog-like boy smiled as he shook his head. "No, but I have been observing you two together. You guys don't exactly seem very close."

"No, we're very close. I don't know what you're talking about," Alicia shot back defensively.

"It's just…" Kiba started, his normal fierce exterior suddenly softening as his own memories of home began to overtake him. "I have an older sister, and she and I are pretty caring towards one another. I don't think I'd ever stoop as low as to blackmail her just to get the upper hand over her."

"Well, good for you then," the girl said childishly as she took a sip of her soda.

"Listen, Alice…" Kiba said, his voice becoming much sterner. The ten-year-old looked up at him in surprise when she heard the seriousness in his tone. "I know a guy who killed his own brother…" Alicia's mouth instantly dropped a couple inches when these words registered. "I don't consider this guy a close friend of mine, but he is a comrade of mine. From what I've reckoned, I guess the only way I can explain it to you is that those two weren't on the best of terms."

"So you think one of us is going to kill the other?" the young girl asked, her tone of voice portraying a growing fear.

"Nah, I'm not saying that," the wolfish boy replied. "But you might want to watch things between you two. She's the only sister you have. You don't want to lose something precious like that."

After a few silent moments, Alicia turned away from the shinobi so that her back was to him. She bit her bottom lip as she began contemplating his words, realizing that they were undeniably true. A deep fear rose in her chest, and the only thing the little girl could think of was making sure to be the best sister she could be with her older sibling.

The front door suddenly opened, and the two humans and canine turned to see Adrianna shivering by the entrance of the house. "O-Okay," she stuttered out. "The c-car's warm now."

"Um… Anna?" Alice called out to her sister before she could walk back out into the cold. When she noticed she had the older girl's attention, she hesitantly walked up to her. After having a bit of an internal battle with herself, she held the container of the orange beverage out to the junior. "Here, you can have it. I don't really want it anymore…"

Adrianna stared blankly at her sister in utter shock before she cautiously took the blue transparent thermos from the brown-haired girl. She eyed the container doubtfully, turning the cup around over and over in her hands. She eventually removed the lid and sniffed the contents before replacing the cap onto the bottle.

The eleventh-grader finally turned to the elementary school child. "Alright, I give up. What did you do to the soda?"

"I didn't do anything!" Alicia yelled, clearly insulted by the accusation. "Jeez! Can't a girl be nice and give her orange soda to her older sister?"

"Not if the younger sister is taking bribes from the older sister and demanded the orange soda as compensation to withhold information from the strict parents!" Adrianna hissed back, squinting her eyes in a venomous fashion.

"Well, maybe the younger sister decided that she's not going to blackmail the older sister anymore! Ever think of that?" the youngest person of the group accused angrily.

The black-haired adolescent blinked in surprise, and she visibly released her muscles of the tension that had built up when she had been arguing. "No… I guess I didn't."

"Well… that's what happened…" Alicia said quietly, her frustration suddenly dissipating. She turned around and walked out the front door toward the red Subaru parked on the street.

Adrianna watched her suddenly calm sister walk out to the car in surprise. She glanced over to the boy of the group, who happened to be standing off to the side, almost as if to stay out of any possible eruptions between the Sun girls.

"I know you had something to do with this," Anna said as she looked at the wolf-like boy out of the corner of her eyes.

"I most certainly did not," Kiba said, sounding slightly insulted and offended.

"Right, sure…" the teenage female responded sarcastically. "But whatever you did… thank you."

The Konoha shinobi instantly flashed a heart-melting smirk at her. "My services do require payment, you know."

Adrianna whipped her head around to stare at her new friend. "Don't tell me you've picked up on Alice's bad habits now."

"I wouldn't call this bribery or blackmail. This is simply business," Kiba informed expertly, his grin never faltering in the slightest.

"Don't push your luck, Kiba," Adrianna replied as she shook her head in exasperation. She walked out the front door towards the car, and the chuunin and canine followed behind. She could distinctly hear the boy chuckling and snickering, and the female couldn't help but roll her eyes in irritation. 

* * *

Four hours later, Adrianna was banging her head against the back of the white chair she was sitting in. Even though it was forty degrees outside in the winter air, it was eighty-seven degrees with seventy percent humidity inside the indoor pool. Even with just a tank top and shorts on, she could feel herself sweating. For four hours, the girl had had to sit in the ridiculous heat of the pool so she could guard the lives of the people in the pool. At a maximum, there were maybe ten people in the pool at a time, which equaled a very slow moving an unexciting day.

And what was worse, she still had another hour of agonizing boredom and heat to deal with.

The raven-haired teen rubbed her droopy eyes under her glasses, mentally yelling at herself to stay awake. She rested her chin on her right hand, letting her brown eyes roam over the pool and its inhabitants.

There was one middle-aged woman in the deep end of the pool with some water fitness dumbbells, working on her muscle mass.

There was a group of elderly men chatting, taking up an entire lane as they walked back and forth, doing absolutely nothing worth paying attention to.

There was a family of four, a mother, father, and two female twins simply playing about. Nothing really special except for when the two little girls would show off the new moves they had learned in their swim lessons, which basically meant treading water.

The most interesting thing in the pool though had to be Alicia swimming in one of the lap lanes with some thirty-something year old guy. The man had previously complained to Adrianna around an hour ago about a little kid being in the professional swimming lanes. While the teenager inwardly cursed the guy for spiting her sister, she reminded herself that it might not be professional or even productive to mention that the ten-year-old was her younger sister.

So instead, Adrianna simply told the man that Alicia was allowed to be in the lane as long as she kept swimming and didn't stop to take excessively long breaks. The dude had given the lifeguard the dirtiest look in the world before he jumped into the lane to swim with Alicia.

The funniest part of the whole ordeal was that the adult was trying to race the little girl the entire time. And Alicia was kicking his butt. The teenager was secretly wondering if her sister even knew that the guy was racing her or if she was just subconsciously going fast. Either way, the adult stood no chance against the little girl who had had competitive swim training since she was five. Oh yeah, the Sun sisters were very serious about their swimming.

After yawning into her fist and blinking a few times, Adrianna looked up to see that the man had given up swimming against her sister. He was exiting the pool area, and the lifeguard felt like crying right at that moment. Her only source of entertainment was gone.

She glanced at the clock, and she instantly proceeded to pound her fist against her forehead. Fifty-five more minutes.

The high school junior sighed loudly, averting her gaze to the hardwood ceiling. She stared at it for a good few minutes before that nagging voice inside her head, which oddly sounded just like her boss, began ordering her to keep her eyes on the pool. She inwardly groaned as she turned her stare back to the boring body of chemical-filled water in front of her.

Her eyebrows rose in surprise when she saw the boy from another dimension emerge from the men's locker room on the other side of the pool. She hadn't seen him since they had arrived at the facility; Adrianna and Alicia had headed to the pool while he had gone to check out the gym.

The adolescent silently shrugged to herself, slightly relieved to see that he hadn't been injured from one of the foreign weight machines or treadmills or something. She wouldn't be surprised if she was called down to the gym by one of the other employees and told that her friend was hurt because he didn't know how to use something.

Adrianna watched Kiba approach one of the benches, wondering what he was doing. He was still wearing his sweaty black T-shirt from working out, but he was now wearing a pair of swim trunks instead of the red and black shorts he had worn to exercise in. Then he removed his shirt and let it lay on the metal bench against the wall.

Even when she tried to keep herself dignified, Adrianna couldn't pull her eyes away from ogling Kiba's bare chest. His nicely tanned skin stood out against the bland and pale bodies of the average Richardson habitants. His shinobi muscles easily flexed with every movement he made as he walked to the water's edge. With one swift jump, he cannonballed into the deep end of the pool, creating a large splash that almost reached to where the lifeguard was seated.

Kiba swam over to the middle of the water and stood by the wall, right by the guard chair. He rested his arms on the wall and looked up at her, staring at her in what seemed to be confusion. "So… what exactly is your job?" he asked, bewilderment clearly evident in his question.

"I'm a lifeguard," Adrianna replied, making sure to keep her brown eyes fixed on his own dark orbs instead of his amazingly chiseled upper body.

The ninja, surprisingly, was unaware of Adrianna's feelings toward him and the anxiety she felt when she was around him, and she silently thanked whatever higher force there was that he didn't know. It would just make things extremely awkward for both of them. Especially if he were to leave the real world.

_"When he leaves!"_ Adrianna instantly hissed to herself. _"When he leaves! Because he is not staying here!"_ Of course, it would have been amazing if he could stay.

"What does that mean?" Kiba inquired, hoping for some clarification.

"It means exactly what it's called," Adrianna said, looking down at him as if he were crazy. "I guard lives. I jump in and save people if they drown or hurt themselves."

"Oh, I get it!" the boy exclaimed, suddenly really excited. "So you're like an important rescuer of your town, right?"

The female furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at his words. Explaining things to Kiba was like explaining things to a little five-year-old. And he always gave the kind of response that she would expect from a child. Adrianna sighed to herself; it was going to be a long time with him in this world if she had to deal with him acting like a kid. She knew it wasn't his fault, since he obviously didn't know how her world worked. But taking the time to explain things to anyone was never something she had ever done, so her patience wasn't exactly great. She would have to work on that, she noted to herself.

"Hmm… sure, let's go with that," Adrianna replied.

"So…" Kiba drawled as he glanced up at her.

The girl instantly saw something dangerous in his eyes. Something unsafe that she had often seen in her own sister's eyes. The dreaded demon… Mischief.

"If you're just sitting in that chair, you're not really saving anyone…" he said as he leaned back into the water. "So that means you're not really doing your job…"

Anna's eyes instantly widened as she finally comprehended what he was saying. "Kiba, please don't!" she hissed.

But it was already too late.

"Help! Help! I'm drowning! I can't swim! Help!" Kiba yelled frantically as he began flailing around in the water. He dunked his head under the water, pretending to drown, and he even threw in some coughs as he spat out some water for added effect.

The lifeguard's mouth fell open in astonishment at the cruelty that her friend was throwing on her. She jumped out of her chair, clutching the large red foam tube that every lifeguard was required to carry. "Kiba!" she hissed. "Stop fooling around!"

"Help! I can't swim!" he shouted, grabbing the attention of every other person in the pool.

"Just stand up! It's only four feet of water!" Adrianna shushed, turning red in the face when she saw that the other people in the pool were giving her worried and disapproving glances for not reacting and saving the drowning person.

"Anna, save him! He needs help!"

The teenager instantly looked up to see her own little sister turning against her and throwing her under the bus. For a ten-year-old, she was a great actress. Her face was contorted into a worried frown, and her expression showed obvious concern. The only way that Adrianna knew that Alicia was faking her agonized alarm was the identical glint of deviousness that she saw in Kiba's eyes just before he started pretending to drown.

Anna growled at her misfortune as she tossed her guard tube in Kiba's direction. He quickly grabbed it, giving it a large tug, attempting to pull the girl into the water. She squealed as she grabbed the chair, keeping herself steadily on land. Once she was sure he wasn't going to pull her again, she began to drag him through the water and towards the wall.

At long last, Kiba grabbed the wall and teasingly gasped for air, still keeping up his image as the rescued victim. He looked up at her with grateful eyes in a mocking manner. "You saved my life. Thank you so much, Miss."

The girl leaned down so that only he could hear her as she growled, "You jerk."

He chuckled as she turned away from him and plopped herself back in the white chair, determined to ignore him at all costs. He smiled as he turned away to go hang out with Alicia for the rest of the hour that Adrianna had left of working.

As the remaining time of her shift carried on, Adrianna found herself continuously glaring at her crush and occasionally sparing a glower towards her sister. She inwardly hissed foul things in her mind, mentally throwing curses and anything else she could think of at them. As she watched the pool, she saw some of the other facility members giving her wary glances, obviously still thinking, and probably gossiping, of her delayed reaction of saving the 'victim'. They all probably thought she was incompetent as a lifeguard now. She groaned at the thought.

After what seemed like forever, two o'clock finally arrived, and the next lifeguard came in to complete his own shift. The female teen sighed in relief as she relished in completing her working hours. She gratefully stretched her arms and back, happy to be leaving. Anna glanced at the pool to see Alicia and Kiba still frolicking and splashing about. She didn't know exactly what they were doing, but it looked like they were racing and doing a terrible a job at it.

"Hey, Kiba! Alicia! Get ready to leave!" she called out to the two people she had arrived at the building with.

She heard a couple moans of protest as a response, but after a few moments, the pair dragged themselves out of the water. They walked over to where Adrianna was waiting for them, and she placed her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow.

"Honestly, you two have no right to complain," Anna remarked. "After what you two did to me, embarrassing me in front of everyone like that, that's just mean."

"Well, you looked bored anyway," Kiba shrugged as he flashed a wolfish grin. "I was just trying to lighten up your day," he added with a wink.

Even though her heart melted slightly as he winked at her, Adrianna was still a bit angry with him, and she rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, well, now you have everyone in the pool thinking I'm a horrible guard because I refused to save you at first."

The chuunin scoffed at this. "Oh please, you told me that you're usually supposed to jump in when you save someone. You're barely wet except for when we splashed you every now and then."

"And I'd like to keep it that way," the girl commented.

Adrianna only saw Kiba's evil smile for a split second before she was swept off her feet… and not in the romantic way. The boy had moved so quickly that she didn't even know what had happened. But then she realized that the ninja was holding her over his shoulder, holding onto her legs so that she didn't fall out of his grip. It didn't take long for her to piece two and two together, and she fiercely began to pound on his back, squealing in frightened protest.

"Kiba! I swear on all that is good, you had better put me down!" Anna screamed in fear. She could practically feel the water engulfing her, even if she was still in the shinobi's arms. She continued to thrash her arms and legs ferociously, trying to wriggle out of the male's tight grasp.

"Down? Well alright then Anna, you asked for it," the Inuzuka said. She could almost hear the smile in his voice.

"No! No, please, don't! No!" the girl shrieked in terror.

But it was too late.

It was only a matter of seconds before Adrianna felt the sudden cold rush of water engulf her body. She felt her shorts and tank top cling to her now soaked body, and she blindly moved her arms around to flip herself upright and reach the surface. Her head burst through the water, and she blinked the burning chlorine from her eyes. She looked up to see Kiba and Alicia laughing hysterically, holding their stomachs as they choked on their cackles.

"That was amazing!" Alice laughed as she doubled over and clutched her sides.

"I know, right," Kiba agreed, hooting and hollering the entire while.

The girl in the pool spat out the water that had found its way into her mouth, initiating the Anna Glare and fixing it onto the two trouble makers. But they were too busy laughing to even notice the frightening glower.

Adrianna groaned and mumbled angry words as she pulled herself out of the water. Once she was out, she stood and continued to glare at her acquaintances. Water dripped from her outfit and hair and landed into a growing puddle by her feet. Kiba and Alicia had been attempting to hold in their laughs by now, but upon seeing her standing in front of them, they burst out into chuckles once again.

The teenage girl marched up to her crush and pointed an accusing finger at him. "Watch yourself, Inuzuka. You're on my hit list now."

"Ah, c'mon now, Anna," the wolf boy grinned. "You can't stay mad at me."

"Oh yes I can," the girl countered quickly. "You had better watch your back."

And with that, Adrianna stormed off to grab a towel and take a warm shower. The other two watched her walk away. Kiba cocked his head to the side and crossed his arms over his bare chest. "Um… Is she genuinely mad at me or is she joking?"

Alice shrugged. "You can never really tell with her." The Inuzuka gave her a worried glance. "Don't worry," she added. "She's pretty kindhearted. She's not one for violence."

"Cool," the ninja sighed in relief as he headed over to the bench to grab his towel.

"Well… Usually…" Alicia added as she went into thought about her sister and any possible revenge-driven or violent methods she had engaged in. Kiba froze in his tracks and looked back to the young girl in confusion, concern suddenly coursing through him. He started wondering if maybe Adrianna would wreak her revenge on him when he least expected it.


End file.
